Article published In:
Pedagogical Linguistics: Online-First Articles

A revisit of three hypotheses about second language development of English relative clauses

A corpus-based study of written Hong Kong English

ORCID logo | The University of Hong Kong

Cantonese-English learners in Hong Kong confront with substantial difficulty in development of English relative clauses. This study aims at verifying predictions of hypotheses about second language learners’ development of English relative clauses with data of written Hong Kong English. wh relatives and that relatives in the Hong Kong component of the International Corpus of English were identified. Frequencies of occurrence of distinct types of relative clauses in the Hong Kong component were compared to evaluate whether predictions of Keenan and Comrie’s (1977) Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy, Kuno’s (1974) Perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis, and Hamilton’s (1994) Subject-Object Hierarchy Hypothesis are supported by the corpus data respectively. Results indicate that the Perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis is supported by data of written Hong Kong English whilst the other two hypotheses are partially supported only. Hypotheses supported by corpus data of written Hong Kong English are suggested to inform English language education in Hong Kong by illuminating the instructional order of different types of English relative clauses.

Keywords: English relative clauses, Hong Kong English, corpus linguistics, second language development
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Literature review
    • L2 learning theories explaining development of English RCs
      • The behaviourist approach
      • The generative approach
      • The input-based emergentist approach
      • The functional approach
    • Hypotheses about L2 learners’ development of English RCs
      • Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH)
      • Perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis (PDH)
      • Subject-Object Hierarchy Hypothesis (SOHH)
      • Comparison and contrast among the three hypotheses
    • Cantonese-English learners’ Development of English RCs
    • Research problem and question
  • Research methodology
    • Sample
    • Variables and instrumentation
    • Procedures
  • Results
    • Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH)
    • Perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis (PDH)
    • Subject-Object Hierarchy Hypothesis (SOHH)
  • Discussion
    • Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH)
    • Perceptual difficulty Hypothesis (PDH)
    • Subject-Object Hierarchy Hypothesis (SOHH)
  • Conclusion and limitations
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 19 February 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pl.23008.ng
References (68)
Bates, E., & MacWhinney, B.
(1982) Functional approaches to grammar. In E. Wanner & L. R. Gleitman (Eds.), Language acquisition: The state of art (pp.173–218). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Biber, D., Johannson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E.
(1999) Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow, Essex, England: Pearson Education Ltd.Google Scholar
Bolton, K., Nelson, G., & Hung, J.
(2002) A corpus-based study of connectors in student writing: Research from the International Corpus of English in Hong Kong (ICE-HK). International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 7 (2), 165–182. DOI logo
Brandt, S.
(2011) Learning from social interaction: The form and function of relative clauses. In E. Kidd (Ed.), The acquisition of relative clauses: Processing, typology and function (pp. 61–80). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, H. D.
(1971) Children’s comprehension of relativized English sentences. Child Development, 42 (6), 1923–1936. [URL]
Bybee, J.
(2008) Usage-based grammar and second language acquisition. In P. Robinson & N. Ellis (Eds.), Handbook of cognitive linguistics and second language acquisition (pp. 216–236). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N.
(1984) Modular approaches to the study of the mind. San Diego: San Diego University Press.Google Scholar
Cook, V.
(1973) The comparison of language development in native children and foreign adults. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 11 (1), 13–28. DOI logo
Curriculum Development Council
(2017) English Language Education Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide (Primary 1 – Secondary 6). [URL]
Diessel, H.
(2004) The acquisition of complex sentences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2007) A construction-based analysis of the acquisition of East Asian relative clauses. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29 (2), 311–320. Retrieved from DOI logo
Diessel, H., & Tomasello, M.
(2000) The development of relative clauses in spontaneous child speech. Cognitive Linguistics, 11 (1/2), 131–151. [URL]
(2005) A new look at the acquisition of relative clauses. Language, 81 (4), 882–906. Retrieved from [URL]
Doughty, C.
(1991) Second language instruction does make a difference: Evidence form an empirical study of SL relativization. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13 (4), 431–469. DOI logo
Eckman, F. R., Bell, L., & Nelson, D.
(1988) On the generalization of relative clause instruction in the acquisition of English as a second language. Applied Linguistics, 9 (1), 1–20. [URL]
Fox, B. A.
(1987) The Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy reinterpreted: Subject primacy or the absolute hypothesis?. Language, 63 (4), 856–870. [URL]
Fox, B. A., & Thompson, S. A.
(1990) A discourse explanation of the grammar of relative clauses. Language, 66 (2), 297–316. [URL]
Fries, C.
(1945) Teaching and learning English as a foreign language. Ann Anbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Gao, Q.
(2014) Chinese EFL learners’ acquisition of English relative clauses. International Journal of English Linguistics, 4 (3), 82–87. DOI logo
Gass, S.
(1979) Language transfer and universal grammatical relations. Language Learning, 29 (2), 327–344. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gass, S. M.
(1987) The resolution of conflicts among competing systems: A bidirectional perspective. Applied Psycholinguistics, 8 (4), 329–350. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gass, S. M., Mackey, A.
(2007) Data elicitation for second and foreign language research. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gibson, E., Desmet, T., Grodner, D., Watson, D., & Ko, K.
(2005) Reading relative clauses in English. Cognitive Linguistics, 16 (2), 313–353. [URL]
Granger, S.
(2002) A bird’s-eye view of learner corpus research. In S. Granger, J. Hung, & S. Petch-Tyson (Eds.), Computer learner corpora, second language acquisition and foreign language teaching (pp.3–33). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Greenbaum, S.
(Ed.) (1996) Comparing English worldwide: The International Corpus of English. Oxford: Clarendon Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Greenbaum, S., & Nelson, G.
(1996) The International Corpus of English (ICE) project. World Englishes, 15 (1), 3–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grodner, D., & Gibson, E.
(2005) Consequences of the serial nature of linguistic input for sentential complexity. Cognitive Science, 29 (2), 261–290. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, R. L.
(1994) Is implicational generalization unidirectional and maximal? Evidence from relativization instruction in a second language. Language Learning, 44 (1), 123–157. [URL]
Hatch, E.
(1971) The young child’s comprehension of relative clauses. Technical Note 2-71-16. Los Alamitos, CA: Southwest Regional Laboratory.Google Scholar
Hawkins, J. A.
(2004) Efficiency and complexity in grammars. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Chan, C. Y.
(1997) The partial availability of Universal Grammar in second language acquisition: The ‘failed functional features hypothesis’. Second Language Research, 13 (3), 187–226. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hsiao, F., & Gibson, E.
(2003) Processing relative clauses in Chinese. Cognition, 90 (1), 3–27. [URL]
Huddleston, R. D., Pullum, G. K., & Peterson, P.
(2002) Relative constructions and unbounded dependencies. In R. D. Huddleston, G. K. Pullum, & L. Bauer (Eds.), The Cambridge grammar of the English language (pp.1031–1096). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ioup, G.
(1983) Acquiring complex sentences in English. In K. Bailey, M. Long, & S. Peck (Eds.), Second language acquisition studies (pp. 25–40). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Ioup, G., & Kruse, A.
(1977) Interference vs. structural complexity in second language acquisition: Language universals as a basis for natural sequencing. In H. Brown, C. Yorio, & R. Crymes (Eds.), On TESOL ’77 – Teaching and learning English as a second language: Trends in research and practice (pp. 159–171). Washington, DC: TESOL.Google Scholar
Izumi, S.
(2003) Processing difficulty in comprehension and production of relative clauses by learners of English as a second language. Language Learning, 53 (2), 285–323. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Keenan, E. L.
(1975) Variation in universal grammar. In R. Fasold & R. Shuy (Eds.), Analyzing variation in language (pp. 136–148). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Keenan, E. L., & Comrie, B.
(1977) Noun phrase accessibility and Universal Grammar. Linguistic Inquiry, 8 (1), 63–99. Retrieved from [URL]
Kennedy, G.
(2003) Amplifier collocations in the British National Corpus: Implications for English language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 37 (3), 467–487. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kuno, S.
(1974) The position of relative clauses and conjunctions. Linguistic Inquiry, 5 (1), 117–136. [URL]
Lambrecht, K.
(1988) There was a farmer had a dog: Syntactic amalgams revisited. Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics, 319–339. DOI logo
Larsen-Freeman, D., Celce-Murcia, M., Frodesen, J., White, B., & Williams, H. A.
(2016) The grammar book: form, meaning, and use for English language teachers (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: National Geographic Learning, Heinle Cengage Learning.Google Scholar
Lau, E., & Tanaka, N.
(2021) The subject advantage in relative clauses: A review. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 6 (1), 1–34. DOI logo
Legum, S.
(1975) Strategies in the acquisition of relative clauses. Technical Note 2-75-10. Los Alamitos, CA: Southwest Regional Laboratory.Google Scholar
Li, D. C. S.
(2000) Hong Kong English: New variety of English or interlanguage?. English Australia Journal, 18 (1), 50–59. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N.
(2013) How languages are learned (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Loewen, S.
(2015) Introduction to instructed second language acquisition. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B.
(2000) The CHILDES Project: Tools for analysing talk (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Mak, W. M., Vonk, W., & Schriefers, H.
(2008) Discourse structure and relative clause processing. Memory & Cognition, 36 1, 170–181. DOI logo
Matthews, S., & Yip, V.
(2011) Cantonese: A comprehensive grammar (2nd ed.). Florence: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ng, C. W.
(2019) Acquisition of English cue strengths by Cantonese learners of English. The Asian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6 (1), 42–53. [URL]
in press). Relative clauses in written Hong Kong English: A corpus-based study of untimed student essays. Asian Englishes. DOI logo
O’Grady, W.
(1987) Principles of grammar and learning. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
(2011) Relative clauses: Processing and acquisition. In E. Kidd (Ed.), The acquisition of relative clauses: Processing, typology and function (pp. 13–38). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
O’Keeffe, A., McCarthy, M., & Carter, R.
(2007) From corpus to classroom: Language use and language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ozeki, H., & Shirai, Y.
(2007) Does the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy predict the difficulty order in the acquisition of relative clauses?. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29 (2), 169–196. DOI logo
Pavesi, M.
(1986) Markedness, discoursal modes, and relative clause formation in a formal and an informal context. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 8 (1), 38–55. DOI logo
Piaget, J.
(1970) Piaget’s theory. In P. H. Mussen (Ed.), Carmichael’s manual of psychology. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Schachter, P.
(1973) Focus and relativization. Language, 49 (1), 19–46. [URL]
Schachter, J.
(1974) An error in error analysis. Language Learning, 24 (2), 205–14. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schumann, J.
(1980) The acquisition of English relative clause by second language learners. In R. Scarcella & S. Krashen (Eds.), Research in second language acquisition: Selected papers from the Los Angeles Second Language Research Forum (pp. 118–131). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Stauble, A.
(1978) A frequency study of restrictive relative clause types and relative pronouns usage in English (Unpublished paper). University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
Swan, M., & Smith, B.
(Eds.) (2001) Learner English: A teacher’s guide to interference and other problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tarallo, F., & Myhill, J.
(1983) Interference and natural language processing in second language acquisition. Language Learning, 33 (1), 55–76. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
White, L.
(2003) Second language acquisition and universal grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wolfe-Quintero, K.
(1992) Learnability and the acquisition of extraction in relative clauses and wh-questions. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 14 (1), 39–70. [URL]
Yip, V., & Matthews, S.
(2007a) Relative clauses in Cantonese-English bilingual children: Typological challenges and processing motivations. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29 (2), 277–300. DOI logo
(2007b) The bilingual child: Early development and language contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar