The Surface Structure Taxonomy

The surface structure taxonomy is based on “the way surface structures are altered”, and errors can occur because of change in surface structure in specific and systematic ways (Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982: 150). Errors are classified into five patterns:

omission, addition, misordering, mis-selection, and blends. Each type will be illustrated as follows.

2.1.4.1 Omission

Omission refers to the absence of an element, which results in incorrect forms of the language. Learners in the early stages of the second language acquisition process tend to omit function words rather than content words (James, 1998).

James (1998) distinguished ellipsis and omission, as in the following sentences:

(14) (a) He’ll pass his exam, but I won’t (pass my exam). (ellipsis) (b) *He’ll pass his exam, and I’ll (pass my exam) too. (omission)

James (1998: 106) Ellipsis refers to an intentional omission of words or phrases to make the passage coherent, while omission refers to an error which occurs as a result of words omitted.

The phrase “pass my exam＂ in (a) is grammatical to be omitted. However, it is ungrammatical to be omitted in (b).

Chen (2007) used the following Chinese examples to explain the difference between ellipsis and omission.

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(15) 他昨天看了那部電影，我也看了（那部電影）．(ellipsis) Tā zuótiān kànle nà bù diànyǐng, wǒ yě kànle (nà bù diànyǐng).

He watched that movie yesterday, so did I. （Chen, 2007: 24）

(16) *這個計畫繁榮了國家經濟，那個計畫也繁榮了（國家經濟）．(omission)

*Zhè ge jìhuà fánróng le guójiā jīngjì, nàge jìhuà yě fánróng le (guójiā jīngjì).

*This plan prospered the national economy, and that plan also prospered (national economy).

（Chen, 2007: 25）

It is grammatical to omit “nà bù diànyǐng” in (15) while it is ungrammatical to omit “guójiā jīngjì” in (16).

Chen (2007) also cited several examples of the omission of functional words.

(17) *笛子的聲音雖然很小，可是各地（都）能聽到．

*Dízi de shēngyīn suīrán hěn xiǎo, kěshì gèdì (dōu) néng tīng dào.

Although the sound of a flute is not loud, people hear it everywhere.

（Li, 1996: 105, 106）

(18) *他有兩（個）孩子．

*Tā yǒu liǎng (ge) háizi.

He has two children.

（Tong, 1986: 20）

(19) *只要我們努力學習，就一定（能）提高漢語水平．

*Zhǐyào wǒmen nǔlì xuéxí, jiù yídìng (néng) tígāo hànyǔ shuǐpíng.

*As long as we study hard, we (can) definitely enhance our Chinese proficiency.

（Tong, 1986: 50）

Moreover, the omission example at the discourse level is shown below:

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(20) a我們應該採取辦法來解決這些問題，比如，讓政府和學校解決貧困學生的學 費問題，（因為）b所有的人都渴望得到教育和知識。

aWǒmen yīnggāi cǎiqǔ bànfǎ lái jiějué zhèxiē wèntí, bǐrú, rang zhèngfǔ hé xuéxiào jiějué pínkùn xuéshēng de xuéfèi wèntí, （yīnwèi） b suǒyǒu de rén dōu kěwàng dédào jiàoyù hé zhīshì.

a We should adopt some measures to solve these problems. For example, devising some ways to push the government and the school to deal with the problem of tuition for students who have difficulties paying them （because） b all people desire to receive education and knowledge.

（Yuan, 2009: 30）

In (20), part b is the cause, and part a is the effect. Thus, “yīnwèi” should be added to part B to present the cause-effect relationship of the two clauses.

(21) a求婚的程序很簡單：b首先男的會偷偷地去問女孩子的父親是否同意將女兒 嫁給自己，c若得到肯定的回答，就會去買一個戒指，d（然後）才會去向女孩 子求婚。

aQiúhūn de chéngxù hěn jiǎndān: b shǒuxiān nán de huì tōutōudì qù wèn nǚháizi de fùqīn shìfǒu tóngyì jiāng nǚér jià gěi zìjǐ, c ruò dédào kěndìng de huídá, jiù huì qù mǎi yíge jièzhǐ, d（ránhòu）cái huì qù xiàng nǚháizi qiúhūn.

a The process of a proposal is very simple: b first, the boy will ask the girl’s father to see if he agrees the marriage. c If the answer is positive, he will buy a ring, d and then propose to the girl.

（Yuan, 2009: 30）

In (21), the paragraph describes the steps of a proposal. “Shǒuxiān” is used in b to mark the first step, and part c is the second step in which the man would purchase a ring if the father agrees to the marriage. Part d is the last step; therefore, “ránhòu” should be added to signal the coherence of the passage.

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2.1.4.2 Addition

This type of error, which is the “result of all-too-faithful use of certain rules”, arises when any unnecessary additions of characters or items occur in students’

production (Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982: 156).

Dulay, Burt and Krashen (1982) subcategorized this error into two types:

regularization and double marking. They argued that regularization was caused by overlooking exceptions and applying incorrectly the old knowledge to other domains.

For example, students’ production of the incorrect “goed” for “went”.

Chen (2007) cited errors of the Chinese verb-copying construction to explain the addition errors in Chinese, as the following example shows:

(22) *他發現這件事發現兩年了．

*Tā fāxiàn zhèjiàn shì fāxiàn liǎngnián le.

*He has discovered this for two years.

（Chang, 1991a: 7）

(23) *我畢業畢了三年了．

*Wǒ bìyè bì le sān nián le.

*I have graduated for three years.

（Chang, 1991b: 410-415）

(24) *我吃完飯吃了三個鐘頭了．

*Wǒ chī wán fàn chī le sān ge zhōngtou le.

*I have eaten for three hours.

（Chang, 1991b: 410-415）

In (22), (23), and (24), the Chinese learners used the verb-copying construction and misapplied the rule to those sentences without considering the semantic constraints of

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the verbs.

In addition to regularization, double marking is another type of addition error. It is defined as a failure to delete certain items which are required in some linguistic constructions but not in other structures, as in the example of “He doesn’t knows me.”

One of the Chinese examples is given below:

(25) *是張文幫我修改了作文的．

*Shì Zhāngwén bāng wǒ xiūgǎi le zuòwén de.

It is Zhangwen who revised my composition.

（Tong, 1986: 40）

(26) *這三個地方的風景都是很美．

*Zhè sānge dìfāng de fēngjǐng dōu shì hěn měi.

The three places have beautiful landscapes.

（Tong, 1986: 126）

Besides the errors of addition mentioned above, in the discourse domain, extensive research also showed that English native speakers tended to overuse pronouns which should be deleted in a discourse (Xie, 1992; Gao, 1996). The following example illustrates the student’s overuse of “wǒmen” (we) in the paragraph.

(27) 大家祝我們快樂，還送我們很多禮物。我們吃生日蛋糕。我們唱生日快樂歌。

我們喝啤酒的時候，我們唱得非常難聽。

Dàjiā zhù wǒmen kuàilè, hái sòng wǒmen hěnduō lǐwù. Wǒmen chī shēngrì dàngāo. Wǒmen chàng shēngrì kuàilè gē. Wǒmen hē píjiǔ de shíhòu, wǒmen chàng de fēicháng nántīng.

All the people wished us a happy birthday, and they gave us a lot of presents. We had cakes. We sang happy birthday songs. We did not sing well when we drank beer.

（Yang, 2004: 63）

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2.1.4.3 Misordering

Misordering refers to deviations associated with the order of the constituents of the sentence. In other words, the errors are characterized by the incorrect placement of a morpheme or a group of morphemes in an utterance. Errors of this kind are usually interlingual errors which result from translating the target language according to the native language (Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982: 163), as seen in the following examples:

(28) *He every time come late home.

（Huang, 2010: 7）

In (28), the learner wrote the English sentence according to the left-branching order of Chinese. Thus, an ungrammatical sentence was created..

(29) (a) *我去辦公室時候，她在談話和同事。

*Wǒ qù bàngōngshì shíhòu, tā zài tánhuà hé tóngshì.

When I went to the office, she was talking with her collegue.

(b) 我去辦公室時候，她和同事在談話。

Wǒ qù bàngōngshì shíhòu, tā hé tóngshì zài tánhuà.

(c) *他在蘇州住跟一個韓國朋友。

*Tā zài Sūzhōu zhù gēn yíge Hánguó péngyǒu.

He lives in Suzhou with a Korean friend.

(d) 他在蘇州跟一個韓國朋友住。

Tā zài Sūzhōu gēn yíge Hánguó péngyǒu zhù.

（Huang, 2010: 7）

In (29), the learner produced the Chinese sentences ungrammaticlly because he/she wrote the sentence based on the right-branching order of English. It is clear that the

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word order of the incorrect Chinese sentences (a) and (c) corresponds to that of the English sentences.

2.1.4.4 Mis-selection

Mis-selection refers to the fact that learners choose the incorrect forms instead of the correct ones in the same language domain (Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982: 160), as shown in (30).

(30) *He hurt herself. －＞He hurt himself.

*I read that books. －＞I read that book.

(James, 1998: 108) In (31), “néng gǎibiàn chuántǒng sīxiǎng” (can change the traditional ideas) is the cause, not the goal. However, the learner chose the incorrect word “wèile” (in order to) to deliver the meaning of “yīnwèi” (because) in the sentence.

(31) a 歷史上的女英雄就是（為了）［因為］能改變傳統思想，b 才被大家稱讚。

a Lìshǐ shàng de nǚ yīngxióng jiù shì (wèile), [yīnwèi] néng gǎibiàn chuántǒng sīxiǎng, b cái bèi dàjiā chēngzàn.

b Heroines in the history were acclaimed by people a (in order to) [because] they changed traditional ideas.

（Yuan, 2009: 30）

2.1.4.5 Blends

Blending arises when two alternative grammatical forms are combined to produce an ungrammatical blend. The examples are as follows:

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(32) *According to Eric’s opinion －＞According to Erica + In Erica’s opinion

* The question is easy to be answered－＞The question is easy to answer + The question is easily answered

(James, 1998: 111) Chen (2007) also provided the following examples to illustrate the errors of blending in Chinese.

(33) *他很高高興興地回去了－＞他很高興地回去了＋他高高興興地回去了 Tā hěn gāogāoxìngxìng dì huíqù le -> tā hěn gāoxìng dì huíqù le+ tā gāogāoxìngxìng dì huíqù le.

(Tong, 1986: 28) (34) *現在我們的漢語說得越來越比較好－＞現在我們的漢語說得越來越好＋現

在我們的漢語說得比較好

Xiànzài wǒmen de Hànyǔ shuō de yuèlái yuè bǐjiào hǎo-> xiànzài wǒmen de Hànyǔ shuō de yuèlái yuèhǎo+xiànzài wǒmen de Hànyǔ shuō de bǐjiào hǎo.

（Tong, 1986: 285）

Based on the five types of form errors, this study examines students’ compositions to categorize their discourse errors.