The Mandarin Ba-construction is one of the most challenging constructions for L2 learners. The present study attributes the difficulty in developing the taxonomic representation of the Ba-construction to the interference of competing constructions. I conducted a syntactic priming experiment to investigate the representational relationship between the Ba-construction and its SVO counterpart in native Mandarin speakers and L2 Mandarin learners with or without the equivalent of the Ba-construction in their L1. It was found that native speakers and L2 learners whose L1 features a structure equivalent to the Ba-construction represented the two constructions distinctly, manifesting as a resistance to priming and a robust syntactic preference for the Ba-construction in the picture description task. Conversely, L2 learners whose L1 does not possess an equivalent of the Ba-construction were sensitive to syntactic priming, which indicates a lack of taxonomic representations of the Ba-construction in relation to its SVO counterpart. Such reduced differentiation between the two target constructions suggests a blocking effect that stems from L1 interference.

普通话 Ba 结构是二语学习者最具挑战性的结构之一。本研究将开发 Ba 结构的分类学表征的困难归因于竞争结构的干扰。我进行了一项句法启动实验，以研究 Ba 结构与其 SVO 对应物之间的表征关系，母语为普通话的人和 L2 普通话学习者在其 L1 中有或没有 Ba 结构的等价物。结果发现，L1 具有等同于 Ba 结构的结构的母语人士和 L2 学习者明显地代表了这两种结构，表现为在图片描述任务中对启动的抵抗和对 Ba 结构的强大句法偏好。反过来，L2 学习者的 L1 不具备 Ba 结构的等价物对句法启动敏感，这表明 Ba 结构与其 SVO 对应物缺乏分类学表征。两个目标结构之间的这种减少的差异表明源于 L1 干扰的阻断效应。