Investigation of the Cooperative Mode and Second Language Acquisition of Chinese Apology Words from the Perspective of Construction Grammar

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-1402007/v1

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Investigation of the Cooperative Mode and Second Language Acquisition of Chinese Apology Words from the Perspective of Construction Grammar

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1402007/v1

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Based on the theory of construction grammar, this paper examines the cooperative mode and second language acquisition of Chinese apology words. It demonstrates the acquisition process and mechanism of Chinese apology words by second language learners. From the perspective of construction grammar, Chinese apology words are the intersection of form and meaning/function. There are frame structures and non-frame structures in the cooperative mode, and additionally, there are complete and omitted forms. The learner's output of apology words includes errors and correct usage. Errors include wrong coordinated mode selection, out-of-order coordination components, incomplete coordination components, and misuse of coordination components. The correct output refers to the cooperative model of the learner's apology words, including the location, usage, and selection of the components, which can be used accurately. The internal acquisition mechanism of these outputs is the learner's "coordination awareness" of apology words. The mastery of "coordination awareness" can be divided into levels and stages. There are three levels in StageⅠ, namely, no coordination awareness, preliminary coordination awareness and basic coordination awareness. StageII means that the learner has complete coordination awareness, which shows that the learner's acquisition of apology words is staged and hierarchical.

Chinese Apology Words

Cooperative mode

Coordination awareness

Acquisition process

The speech act of the apology is indispensable in human communication. In daily life, when people perceive something wrong with their words and behavior or disturb, hurt, influence, trouble, or offend others, they usually use apologies to express guilt. For Chinese learners, mastering the correct usage of apology words and adopting appropriate apology strategies are two necessary conditions for smoothly developing the speech act of making a Chinese apology in communication. Between words and strategies, apology words are the primary knowledge point in Chinese when taught as a second language. It is also one of the difficult points of teaching, which is reflected in the high frequency of the appearance and use of apology words. However, because of its special semantic relationship, cooperative mode and syntactic configuration, there are different structural types of the basic expression, so learners are prone to errors in learning its use. At present, analyzing the meaning and usage of this type of vocabulary and explaining its acquisition process and mechanism with a new perspective and new method to establish a more appropriate teaching method have become hot topics.

In recent years, research on Chinese construction grammar has achieved significant results. Among these, the concept of "combining construction grammar with Chinese in second language acquisition and teaching research" proposed by Shi (2011, 2017) represents a breakthrough in the development of Chinese construction grammar. Shi proposed to investigate the distribution of constructions in various teaching syllabi and textbooks of Chinese as a foreign language and to reanalyze the basic situation and existing problems in studying Chinese constructions for second language teaching. At present, scholars such as Zhan (2017), Zhang (2018), and Cheng (2018) have further sorted out and explored the connotations and application scope of this concept and believe that it is feasible and cutting-edge to apply it to research on the acquisition and teaching of Chinese as a second language.

This research is thus based on construction grammar theory; it determines the number and types of apology words in Chinese textbooks and sorts out the cooperative mode of apology words and the relationship between form and meaning. Moreover, this research also obtains the mechanism for acquisition based on the output of apology words in the interlanguage corpus. The specific methodology is as follows: First, the eight sets of words commonly used in Chinese teaching[[1]] to express apology were exhaustively collected and analyzed. Then, the collected corpus was put into the HSK Dynamic Composition Corpus for retrieval, the output sentences of the learners that were obtained from the corpus were classified, and the types of errors were sorted. Finally, we explored the learning process and mechanism of the learner's acquisition of apology vocabulary based on construction grammar. This research aims to enrich the study of second language acquisition of Chinese constructions and provide research references for establishing construction grammar teaching methods.

[[1]] They are Boya Chinese, Developing Chinese, New Practical Chinese Textbook, HSK Standard Course, Chinese Course, Bridge Chinese, Chinese Listening Course, Spoken Chinese Course.

From Goldberg's (1995, 2006) definition of constructions, it could be inferred that each construction is a ligand of form and meaning/function. Apology words have different structural types in form and can express similar relevant semantic information with different starting points, degrees, and emotional attitudes. At the same time, they have the pragmatic function of apology that other constructions do not have. It is a ligand of "form and meaning\function", so all apology words belong to constructions. The specificity of the apology construction lies in its special cooperative mode and usage characteristics. Therefore, this article will investigate the cooperative mode of a total of 26 apology words (Table 1) in the above eight types of textbooks based on Yuan's (1997) valence study of Chinese verbs, nouns and adjectives.

Table 1

Basic attributes of apology words
Apology Words	English Interpretation	Pinyin	Apology Words	English Interpretation	Pinyin	Apology Words	English Interpretation	Pinyin
打扰	disturb	darao	过意不去	sorry	guoyibuqu	愧疚	guilty	kuijiu
道歉	apologize	daoqian	赔不是	apologize	peibushi	内疚	guilty	neijiu
对不起	sorry	duibuqi	歉意	apology	qianyi	歉疚	guilty	qianjiu
对不住	sorry	duibuzhu	错	wrong	cuo	羞耻	shame	xiuchi
辜负	betray	gufu	怪	blame	guai	羞愧	ashamed	xiukui
麻烦	trouble	mafan	后悔	regret	houhui	遗憾	regret	yihan
抱歉	sorry	baoqian	自责	self-blame	zize	谅解	forgive	liangjie
冒昧	presumptuous	maomei	不安	disturbed	buan	原谅	forgive	yuanliang
不好意思	excuse me	buhaoyisi	惭愧	ashamed	cankui

The cooperative mode of verbal apology words

Yuan Yulin (1998) divides Chinese verbs into unary verbs, binary verbs and ternary verbs according to the difference in the number of arguments that verbs could control. Binary verbs could dominate two arguments, and the relationship between the verb and the argument is syntactically mandatory. In a nonelliptical context, the argument cannot be deleted, and a missing argument will cause the sentence to be incorrect. According to the semantic relationship between two arguments, binary verbs can be divided into collaborative and targeted verbs. The relationship between the two arguments in a collaborative verb is bidirectional and symmetrical, while a targeted verb is unidirectional and irreversible. According to Yuan's valence theory, apology words dominate the two arguments, "NP1" and "NP2". Among them, "NP1" means agent or cause, and "NP2" means recipient or cause. There is a unidirectional and irreversible relationship between the two. For example, the relationship between the two arguments involved in "I apologize to you (我向你道歉)" is "I → you". Therefore, all the verbal apology words involved in this research are binary targeted verbs. If preposition guidance is needed, binary targeted verbs can be divided into true binary targeted verbs and quasi-binary targeted verbs. The cooperative modes of the two are nonframed coordination and framed coordination. Each cooperative mode also has a complete form and an omitted form.

True binary targeted verbs do not require a preposition to guide the argument, whose cooperative mode is in a nonframed structure, which can be divided into a complete form and an abbreviated form. The complete form of the cooperative mode is "NP1+ ___ +NP2", for example:

1) 我对不起你!

I apologize to you!

2) 我对不住你。

I apologize to you.

3) 我很后悔自己说了这样的话。

I regret having said that.

4) 你也太辜负上级对你的信任了!

You have betrayed the trust of your superiors!

5) 请你原谅我。

Please forgive me.

6) 我麻烦你们太多了。

I have troubled you too much.

Among them, "原谅 (forgive)", "谅解 (forgive)", "打扰 (disturb)", "怪罪 (blame)", and "辜负 (betray)" have passive usage of the non-framed structure in the form of "NP1+被+NP2+ ___". At this time, "NP1" means victim, and "NP2" means agent, for example:

7) 除非我们改变现在的生活方式, 否则我们不会被后人原谅的。

Unless we change our current lifestyle, we will not be forgiven by future generations.

8) 他们将不可能被别人谅解。

They will not be forgiven by others.

9) 我被老人怪罪了。

I was blamed by the older adult.

10) 我辜负了你们的好意。

I have betrayed your kindness.

The omitted form of the true binary targeted verbs refers to omitting arguments (NP1 or NP2) in a specific context, including agent, recipient, cause, etc. These omitted arguments could be inferred and supplemented by the situational context, which is essentially different from the absence or deletion of arguments. The omitted form includes two types: complete omission and partial omission. The complete omission shows that some apology words could be directly used as single sentences, and the cooperative mode is "(under a certain context) ____". Partial omission means that "NP1" (agent) is omitted in a specific context, "NP2" (subject) cannot be omitted, and the cooperative mode is "(under a certain context) ___ +NP2". For example:

11)对不起!(A把B的资料丢失, A对B说的话༉

Sorry! (A lost B’s data, what A said to B)

12)真对不住啊!(A没有完成B交给自己的任务, A对B说的话༉

I'm sorry! (A did not complete the task assigned to him by B, what A said to B)

13)打扰了。(A在没有事先预约的情况下有急事找B, A对B说的话༉

Excuse me. (A asks B in an urgent matter without making an appointment in advance, what A said to

14)太麻烦你们了!(B为了A准备了生日惊喜, A对B说的话༉

Too much trouble for you! (B prepared a birthday surprise for A, what A said to B)

15)是的, 我编造了谎言, 请原谅我。(A说谎骗了B༉

Yes, I made up lies. Please forgive me. (A lies to B)

In the above example, the first three are completely omitted forms, and the last two are partially omitted forms. According to the context, these examples could be expanded to the complete forms:

16) A对B说: "我对不起你。"

A said to B: "I'm sorry."

17) A对B说: "我对不住你。"

A said to B, "I cannot help you."

18) A对B说: "我打扰了你。"

A said to B, "I disturbed you."

19) A对B说: "我太麻烦你们了。"

A said to B, "I have troubled you too much."

20) A对B说: "请你原谅我。"

A said to B: "Please forgive me."

Quasi-binary targeted verbs mean that two noun elements have a mandatory syntactic connection between them. When two noun elements co-occur, one of the noun elements must be guided by a preposition. The cooperative mode of the quasi-binary targeted verbs could also be divided into a complete form and an omitted form.

The cooperative mode of the complete form has the frame structure "NP1 + preposition + NP2", and guiding prepositions include "向 (toward)", "对 (for)", "给 (for)", "和 (and)", "为 (for)", and so on. There is also the frame structure "preposition + NP2 + NP1+___" in which the preposition is moved forward in the sentence. This time, "NP2" mainly indicates the reasons. For example:

21) 你有空给林参谋道歉。

You apologize to Staffer Lin when you are free.

22) 即便是这样, 你还是要向他赔不是。

Even so, you still have to apologize to him.

23) 法院要求被告向原告赔礼道歉。

The court required the defendant to apologize to the plaintiff.

24) 你要和我赔不是。

You're going to make amends to me.

25) 他又为从不曾打听她丈夫的情况深感后悔。

He deeply regretted never inquiring about her husband.

The omitted form is a partial omission; the omitted components are prepositions and NP2, and the cooperative mode is "(under a certain context) NP1+ ____", for example:

26) 好吧, 我道歉。(A误会了B, 在了解B的真实想法后, A对B说的话)

Well, I apologize. (A misunderstood B, what A said to B after understanding B’s true thoughts)

27) 我十分后悔, 可是后悔也来不及了。(A在赌博输光家产后对B说的话)

I regret it very much, but it is too late to regret it. (What A said to B after losing all his family belongings

in gambling)

28) 每次看到自己的成绩不好, 我就特别自责。(A因成绩不好对B说的话)

Every time I see my poor grades, I blame myself. (What A said to B because of bad grades)

The prepositions and NP2 in Examples (29) to (31) could be restored through an understanding of the context:

29) A对B说: “我向你道歉。”

A said to B: "I apologize to you."

30) A对B说: “我因赌博输光家产而后悔。”

A said to B: "I regret losing all my wealth through gambling."

31) A对B说: “我因自己成绩不好而自责。”

A said to B: "I blame myself for my poor grades."

The cooperative mode of adjective apology words

Yuan (1997) believes that the valence of an adjective refers to the number of supplementary words that an adjective can carry, including necessary supplementary words and optional supplementary words. Among them, the unary adjective has only one phrase in the corpus, "错 (wrong)", and the cooperative mode is the frame structure "NP1+___", for example: "你对, 他错。 (you are right, and he is wrong)." The rest of the corpus is all binary adjectives, and one of the complementary words must be guided by a preposition, so it is a quasi-binary adjective. The cooperative mode can be divided into a complete form and an omitted form. There are two types of complete forms: "NP1 + preposition + NP2+___" and "preposition + NP2 + NP1+___". Prepositions include "对 (to)", "对于 (to)", "因 (cause)". For example:

1) 我只觉得对那位小姐有点过意不去。

I just feel a little sorry for that lady.

2) 弗洛伦斯对这感到苦恼不安。

Florence feels distressed about this.

3) 我对你实在冒昧。

I'm truly taking liberties with you.

4) 不妨理解为这是我对意外误杀你朋友的一点点歉疚。

It may be understood that this is a little expression of my guilt for accidentally killing your friend.

5) 大家对局势的变化都感到很不安。

Everyone is very disturbed by the changes in the situation.

6) 对于此事我实在抱歉。

I apologize for this.

7) 对于此事我们也深表遗憾。

We also deeply regret this matter.

The category of the omitted form includes all complete omissions and partial omissions, and the cooperative mode of all omitted forms is "(under a certain context)____", for example:

8) 实在很抱歉。(A做了伤害B的事情, 冷静下来后A对B说的话)

I apologize. (A did something that hurt B, what A said to B after calming down)

9) 冒昧打扰。(A想要寻求B的帮助, A对B说的话)

Take the liberty to disturb. (A wants to ask B's help, what A said to B)

The cooperative mode of partial omission is "(under a certain context) NP1+ ___", omitting the preposition and NP2, for example:

10) 两个人都觉得很内疚。(A和B吵架后的内心想法༉

Both people feel very guilty. (A and B's inner thoughts after the quarrel)

11) 他的心里非常不安。(A做了亏心事༉

He was very disturbed. (A has done something wrong)

12) 我十分羞愧。(A的谎言被人识破)

I am very ashamed. (A's lie was seen through)

Similarly, the complete form could also be expanded to:

13)A对B说: “我对自己的行为感到很抱歉。”

A said to B: "I am sorry for my behavior."

14)A对B说: “我对你实在冒昧。”

A said to B: "I'm truly taking liberties with you."

15)A和B的内心想法: “两人都对吵架一事感到很内疚。”

The inner thoughts of A and B: "Both of them feel very guilty about the quarrel."

16)A的状态: “A因事做了亏心事而不安。”

A's status: "A is upset because of what he has done wrong."

17)A说: “我因自己的谎言被识破而十分羞愧。”

A said, "I am very ashamed because my lie was seen through."

The cooperative mode of nominal apology words

Nominal apology words also involve two arguments in the semantic relationship and belong to bivalent nouns. The complete cooperative mode is the frame structure "NP1 + preposition + NP2 + verb+___" or "preposition + NP2 + NP1 + verb+___". Prepositions include "向 (to)", "对于 (for)", "给 (for)". For example,

1) 您要向团长表示歉意。

You want to apologize to the group leader.

2) 我总是给人家添麻烦。

I always trouble others.

3) 这些我全然不知, 对此我诚心表示歉意。

I do not know this at all, and I sincerely apologize for it.

The omitted cooperative mode uses the frame structure "preposition + NP2 + verb+___", and the argument NP1 is omitted, for example:

4) 对不起, 小姐, 给你们带来了这么多麻烦。

Sorry, Miss, for causing you so much trouble.

According to the context, it can be expanded to:

5) 对不起, 小姐, 我们给你们带来了这么多麻烦。

Sorry, Miss, we have caused you so much trouble.

From the above analysis of the meaning and usage of apology words, it can be seen that every Chinese apology word could be used as a construction. The process of acquiring it is how learners build a library of apology words psychologically through cognition. In this process, learners need to understand the different meanings of various apology words and obtain the cognitive awareness of the cooperative mode of apology words. This awareness of the grasp and application of apology words in the acquisition process is called "construction awareness" by Shi (2011), which is mainly reflected in the "coordination awareness" of apology words. The externalized expression of "coordination awareness" is the output of the learner. Therefore, the learner's process of mastering the "coordination awareness" of the construction of apology words could be recognized by examining the output.

Errors in verbal apology words

Among the errors in verbal apology words, there are four types in the quasi-binary targeted verbs: wrong cooperative mode selection, out-of-order coordination components, incomplete coordination components, and misuse of coordination components. The wrong cooperative mode selection means that the non-framed construction "NP1+___+NP2" should have been selected, but other coordination forms were misused. The out-of-order coordination components mean that the position of the coordination sentence components is wrong. Incomplete coordination components refer to the lack and omission of coordination components. Misuse of the coordination component refers to the wrong choice of the coordination component. For example,

1. ^*我道歉我的母亲。 (I apologize to my mother.)

2.^*我道歉向你。 (I apologize to you.)

3. ^*发生过的事, 我们很后悔。 (We regret what happened.)

4. ^*我向自己的抱怨感到自责。 (I feel guilty for my complaints.)

5.^*我对您们真诚道歉。 (I sincerely apologize to you.)

Example (1) is an error in the cooperative mode selection. "道歉 (apologize)" is a quasi-binary targeted verb, but the learner misuses the framed cooperative mode instead of the non-framed one. Example (2) belongs to the out-of-order coordination components, and the argument NP2 guided by the preposition should be placed before the words of apology. Examples (3) and (4) are incomplete coordination components and lack the propositions “对 (for)” or “对于 (for)”. Example (5) belongs to the misuse of coordination components, that is, the misuse of prepositions.

There are three types of errors in the true binary targeted verbs: incorrect cooperative mode selection, incomplete coordination component, and out-of-order coordination component. For example,

6.^*那时候应该给您们写信但我没写信, 对您们对不起。 (I should have written to you at that time, but I did not write, I am sorry.)

7.^*可是她也觉得向我对不起一点。 (However, she also feels sorry towards me.)

8.^*我觉得太对不起, 你们了解吧。 (I feel so sorry, please understand.)

9. ^*我的同屋是研究生, 她正在写论文, 不过常常帮助我学习, 所以我对不起。 (My roommate is a graduate student. She is writing a thesis, but she often helps me with my studies, so I'm sorry.)

10.^*吸烟对健康百害无益, 而且在公共场所里吸烟是别人对不起的事。 (Smoking is not good for one’s health, and smoking in public places is something that others should be sorry for.)

Since the learners do not grasp that "对不起 (sorry)" should be the true binary targeted verb, the cooperative modes in Example (6) and Example (7) are both misused as framed coordinations instead. Prepositions are used to guide arguments, which proves that learners do not understand and are uncertain of the cooperative modes of the apology word. In Example (8) and Example (9), the learner's choice of cooperative mode is correct, but it ignores the fact that the agents in the omitted form of the true binary targeted verbs can be ignored, but the objects cannot. Therefore, the cooperative mode is incomplete. The cooperative mode of Example (10) is also correct, but there is a problem with the order of the components.

Errors with adjective apology words

The errors in adjective apology words are mainly with the use of binary adjectives, including three types: cooperative mode selection error, out-of-order coordination components, and incomplete coordination components. For example,

1. ^*抱歉你。 (I am sorry to you)

2. ^*所以很内疚他。 (So he is guilty.)

3. ^*妈妈遗憾这件事。 (Mom regrets it.)

4. ^*这就是我对他感到内疚。 (That is why I feel guilty about him.)

5. ^*真不好意思对吸烟这件事。 (I'm sorry about the smoking.)

6. ^*抱歉我! (I am sorry.)

Examples (1) and (3) are cooperative mode selection errors. The framed coordination component should be used instead of the non-framed coordination component. Example (4) belongs to the incomplete coordination category and lacks an object. Examples (5) and (6) belong to the wrong order of the coordination components. Example (5) should put the preposition and its leading arguments before the apology word. The position of the coordination component in Example (6) should be interchanged with "我抱歉 (I'm sorry)".

Errors with nominal apology words

The errors made with nominal apology words include two types: cooperative mode selection errors and incomplete coordination components. For example,

1. ^*我歉意你们。 (I apologize to you.)

2. ^*他们认为没有添别人麻烦。 (They think that they have not caused others trouble.)

3. ^*不要添麻烦别人。 (Do not bother others.)

4. ^*我经常给您一些麻烦。 (I often give you some trouble.)

Examples (1) to (3) are errors in the cooperative mode selection. Framed coordination should have been selected, but non-framed coordination was misused. Example (4) belongs to the incomplete coordination component, that is, the verb is missing, and the verb "添 (add)" should be added to form "添麻烦 (to add trouble)".

Correct output of verbs, adjectives, and nominal apology words

The correct output situation includes choosing the correct cooperative mode, ensuring the coordination component is not incomplete or misused, and verifying the coordination component sequence is correct. The correct use cases of verbal apology words are divided into true binary targeted verbs and quasi-binary targeted verbs. The first 10 are the true binary targeted verbs in the following corpus, and the last 5 are the quasi-binary targeted verbs. Examples (1) to (6) are complete coordination forms, and Examples (7) to (15) are omitted coordination forms.

1) 我很对不起我的父母。

I feel very sorry towards my parents.

2) 但是这都是我心中的话, 请你们原谅我。

However, these are the words in my heart. Please forgive me.

3) 我觉得辜负了父母对我的期望。

I feel that I have failed my parents' expectations of me.

4) 请你们谅解我。

Please forgive me.

5) 绝不能用强硬的态度对待晚辈, 以免使他们因我们的错误踏进歧路而后悔。

Never use an overbearing attitude toward juniors so as not to make them regret our mistakes.

6) 我们都不愿向对方道歉。

We apologize for the confusion.

7) 打扰他的工作, 真是不好意思。

I am sorry to interrupt his work.

8) 对不起。

Sorry.

9) 现在回忆往事真感到辜负了父亲对我的一番期望。

Now recalling the past, I feel that I have failed my father’s expectations of me.

10) 请原谅我。

Please forgive me.

11) 麻烦你们了。

Excuse me.

12) 实在没时间写信, 希望爸妈谅解。

I truly do not have time to write a letter; I hope my parents will understand.

13) 遇到挫折时, 我就开始自责。

When encountering setbacks, I start to blame myself.

14) 我很对不起你们, 而且很后悔。

I apologize for you, and I regret it.

15) 我一直都不断自责。

I have always blamed myself.

The correct output of adjective apology words and nominal apology words are as follows. Among them, examples (16) to (20) are complete coordination forms, and examples (21) to (24) are omitted coordination forms.

16) 对于这种现实很多老人感觉非常不安。

Many older adults feel very disturbed by this reality.

17) 我作为一个吸烟者, 对此感到十分惭愧。

As a smoker, I am very ashamed of this.

18) 对于这些人我只能深感遗憾。

I can only feel deep regret towards these people.

19) 借此机会我向你表示歉意。

I apologize for this error.

20) 那时我真的很内疚, 我实在太过分了。

I was guilty at that time; I was too much.

21) 很抱歉。

Sorry.

22) 但是, 我错了。

However, I was wrong.

23) 小的时候给父母添了很多麻烦。

When I was young, I caused much trouble for my parents.

In summary, learners have an orderly process for the acquisition of apology words. Learners need to continuously construct and improve the library of apology words to form a complete conscious construction to use them freely in communication.

Shi (2017) believes that the internal mechanism of acquisition determines the performance of learners' output. From the perspective of construction grammar, the internal acquisition mechanism behind the construction process of apology could be regarded as a kind of "coordination awareness." Descriptively, the correct output means that the learner has complete coordination awareness, while errors show the learner's incomplete grasp of coordination awareness, which could be refined into incorrect cooperative mode selection, out-of-order coordination components, incomplete coordination components, and misuse of coordination components. Among the four types, the first type of error reflects that the learner has not mastered the coordination form at all and does not have coordination awareness at all. The second and third errors reflect that learners have mastered the preliminary coordination form and have preliminary coordination awareness, but the awareness is relatively weak and not accurate enough. The fourth kind of error reflects that learners have mastered the basic coordination form and have basic coordination awareness, but there are still some minor problems in composition. It can be seen that the process of learners' acquisition of apology words is staged and hierarchical as shown in Table 2.

Table 2

The Acquisition Process of Apology Words
Stage	Level	Specific performance
Stage Ⅰ	lack of coordination awareness	wrong cooperative mode selection
	preliminary coordination awareness	out-of-order coordination components incomplete coordination components
	basic coordination awareness	misuse of coordination components
Stage Ⅱ	complete coordination awareness	correct outputs

Stage Ⅰ refers to the learner's error in the cooperative mode of apology words. The lack of coordination awareness at the first level means that learners have no awareness of the identity of apology words, which is the lowest level for acquiring the cooperative mode of apology words. However, at the same time, this is also the best time for learners to acquire the cooperative mode of apology words, and the acquisition potential is excellent. Its externalized performance is that learners often output sentences with a lack of grammatical mastery at this stage. That is, framed coordination and non-framed coordination are mixed. The preliminary coordination awareness of the second level is formed based on the first level. This means that learners have been able to identify the apology words and are working hard to move closer to the correct cooperative mode. However, coordination awareness is still very vague. There are often hesitations or errors in the order of appearance and in the components. The third level of basic coordination awareness means that learners can recognize the identity of apology words and can select a cooperative mode accurately. At the same time, they are clear and familiar with whether the components appear in the cooperative mode and the order in which they appear. There are still biases in the choice. These biases will not significantly impact communication but can reflect the learner's insufficient grasp of such coordination components. It is a qualitative leap from stage I to stage Ⅱ. When the learners reach stage Ⅱ, they already have complete coordination awareness, can accurately identify the identity of apology words, choose the cooperative mode correctly, and understand the location, usage, and choice of the components. Therefore, the correct apology sentence can be output.

This paper examines the cooperative mode and second language acquisition of 26 apology words in eight Chinese-learning textbooks based on construction grammar theory. Chinese apology words can be divided into verbal, adjective and nominal according to their parts of speech. Their cooperative modes can be divided into framed and non-framed structures. Both complete forms and omitted forms are used. By comparing the correct and erroneous outputs of learners, it can be seen that the forms include incorrect cooperative mode selection, out-of-order coordination components, incomplete coordination components, and misuse of coordination components in the erroneous output. In the correct output, the learner can accurately identify the identity of the apology word, correctly choose the cooperative mode, and have a good understanding of the location, usage, and choice of the components. The error in the correct output process reflects the learner's acquisition process, dominated by "coordination awareness". The acquisition and mastery of "coordination awareness" are hierarchical and phased. Stage I includes three levels: lack of coordination awareness, preliminary coordination awareness, and basic coordination awareness. Stage II means that the learner has complete coordination awareness, which shows that the learner's acquisition of apology words is not accomplished overnight but is staged.

Acknowledgments

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Authors’ contributions

The author completed the whole manuscript on her own.

Funding

The author received no financial support for this research, authorship and publication of this article.

Disclosure Statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

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Investigation of the Cooperative Mode and Second Language Acquisition of Chinese Apology Words from the Perspective of Construction Grammar

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Basic Attributes Of Chinese Apology Words

Second Language Acquisition Of Chinese Apology Words

The Internal Mechanism Of Chinese Apology Vocabulary Acquisition

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