A Developmental Study on the Non-Interrogative Interpretations of Mandarin Wh-words
碩士 === 國立清華大學 === 語言學研究所 === 102 === The purpose of this study is to explore whether 4-to-6-year-old Mandarin-acquiring children have adult-like interpretations of non-interrogative indefinite wh-words in conditional constructions, which are interpreted as statements since wh-phrases are used non-in...
Main Authors: | , |
---|---|
Other Authors: | |
Format: | Others |
Language: | en_US |
Published: |
2014
|
Online Access: | http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/49831096196750247675 |
id |
ndltd-TW-102NTHU5462008 |
---|---|
record_format |
oai_dc |
spelling |
ndltd-TW-102NTHU54620082016-03-09T04:31:14Z http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/49831096196750247675 A Developmental Study on the Non-Interrogative Interpretations of Mandarin Wh-words 中文疑問詞非疑問用法之習得研究 Cheng, Chieh-Chih 鄭潔之 碩士 國立清華大學 語言學研究所 102 The purpose of this study is to explore whether 4-to-6-year-old Mandarin-acquiring children have adult-like interpretations of non-interrogative indefinite wh-words in conditional constructions, which are interpreted as statements since wh-phrases are used non-interrogatively. Three experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 is designed to assess children’s interpretation of existential wh-words shei ‘who’ and shenmeren ‘who’ in the conditional headed by zhiyao ‘as long as’. We tested whether Mandarin-acquiring children are sensitive to the distinction between the interrogative and non-interrogative use of wh-phrases in conditional constructions. Experiments 2 and 3 are designed to test Mandarin-acquiring children’s interpretation of bare conditionals containing the wh-word shei ‘who’ in both subject and object argument positions (Cheng &; Huang 1996). To acquire the adult-like use of bare conditionals as statements, children must be able to recognize the element jiu ‘then’ as the licensing cue of non-interrogative indefinite wh-phrases. Otherwise, they will interpret the two clauses in bare conditionals as two independent interrogative questions. Therefore, Experiments 2 and 3 examined whether children can use jiu as the licensing cue to access the meanings of bare conditionals. The experimental results demonstrate that 4-to-6-year-old Mandarin-acquiring children exhibit non-adult-like interpretations of wh-words both in zhiyao-conditionals and bare conditionals. Of the two conditionals, children’s performance appears to be more adult-like on zhiyao-conditionals. The current results stand in contrast with Zhou’s (2010) finding that children possess early mastery of existential indefinite wh-phrases under negation. The delay in the acquisition suggests that there exists an acquisition divergence among indefinite wh-phrase of different licensing environments and further may provide evidence for Lin’s (1998) observation that indefinite wh-phrases in bare conditionals may be different from those in typical conditionals. 蘇宜青 2014 學位論文 ; thesis 112 en_US |
collection |
NDLTD |
language |
en_US |
format |
Others
|
sources |
NDLTD |
description |
碩士 === 國立清華大學 === 語言學研究所 === 102 === The purpose of this study is to explore whether 4-to-6-year-old Mandarin-acquiring children have adult-like interpretations of non-interrogative indefinite wh-words in conditional constructions, which are interpreted as statements since wh-phrases are used non-interrogatively. Three experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 is designed to assess children’s interpretation of existential wh-words shei ‘who’ and shenmeren ‘who’ in the conditional headed by zhiyao ‘as long as’. We tested whether Mandarin-acquiring children are sensitive to the distinction between the interrogative and non-interrogative use of wh-phrases in conditional constructions. Experiments 2 and 3 are designed to test Mandarin-acquiring children’s interpretation of bare conditionals containing the wh-word shei ‘who’ in both subject and object argument positions (Cheng &; Huang 1996). To acquire the adult-like use of bare conditionals as statements, children must be able to recognize the element jiu ‘then’ as the licensing cue of non-interrogative indefinite wh-phrases. Otherwise, they will interpret the two clauses in bare conditionals as two independent interrogative questions. Therefore, Experiments 2 and 3 examined whether children can use jiu as the licensing cue to access the meanings of bare conditionals.
The experimental results demonstrate that 4-to-6-year-old Mandarin-acquiring children exhibit non-adult-like interpretations of wh-words both in zhiyao-conditionals and bare conditionals. Of the two conditionals, children’s performance appears to be more adult-like on zhiyao-conditionals. The current results stand in contrast with Zhou’s (2010) finding that children possess early mastery of existential indefinite wh-phrases under negation. The delay in the acquisition suggests that there exists an acquisition divergence among indefinite wh-phrase of different licensing environments and further may provide evidence for Lin’s (1998) observation that indefinite wh-phrases in bare conditionals may be different from those in typical conditionals.
|
author2 |
蘇宜青 |
author_facet |
蘇宜青 Cheng, Chieh-Chih 鄭潔之 |
author |
Cheng, Chieh-Chih 鄭潔之 |
spellingShingle |
Cheng, Chieh-Chih 鄭潔之 A Developmental Study on the Non-Interrogative Interpretations of Mandarin Wh-words |
author_sort |
Cheng, Chieh-Chih |
title |
A Developmental Study on the Non-Interrogative Interpretations of Mandarin Wh-words |
title_short |
A Developmental Study on the Non-Interrogative Interpretations of Mandarin Wh-words |
title_full |
A Developmental Study on the Non-Interrogative Interpretations of Mandarin Wh-words |
title_fullStr |
A Developmental Study on the Non-Interrogative Interpretations of Mandarin Wh-words |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Developmental Study on the Non-Interrogative Interpretations of Mandarin Wh-words |
title_sort |
developmental study on the non-interrogative interpretations of mandarin wh-words |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/49831096196750247675 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT chengchiehchih adevelopmentalstudyonthenoninterrogativeinterpretationsofmandarinwhwords AT zhèngjiézhī adevelopmentalstudyonthenoninterrogativeinterpretationsofmandarinwhwords AT chengchiehchih zhōngwényíwèncífēiyíwènyòngfǎzhīxídéyánjiū AT zhèngjiézhī zhōngwényíwèncífēiyíwènyòngfǎzhīxídéyánjiū AT chengchiehchih developmentalstudyonthenoninterrogativeinterpretationsofmandarinwhwords AT zhèngjiézhī developmentalstudyonthenoninterrogativeinterpretationsofmandarinwhwords |
_version_ |
1718202220189581312 |