Incorrect association of the focus particle dake: new evidence from child Japanese
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Hiroyuki Shimada
Abstract
It has been observed cross-linguistically that children often show non-adult-like behavior with sentences containing focus phrases, such as only in English. Children often misinterpret sentences in which focus phrases modify subjects, whereas they exhibit adult-like behaviors when they modify VPs or objects. That is, a subject-object asymmetry is observed in children’s incorrect associations of focus phrases. Although many previous studies have addressed this issue, why children show such non-adult-like behavior and subject-object asymmetry is largely unknown. This paper examines Japanese-speaking children’s interpretations of scrambled sentences containing the Japanese focus particle dake (O-dake S V sentences) and demonstrates that children clearly show adult-like behavior with them. Based on the results of this experiment, it is concluded that linear order is irrelevant to their non-adult-like behavior, as discussed by previous studies. Further, based on the novel observation, it is claimed that superficial (i.e., at the Surface-structure level in a traditional sense) c-command relations between an NP with dake and another NP are irrelevant to their incorrect associations of dake. Rather, this observation provides a piece of supporting evidence for the Reconstructed Structure Hypothesis.
Acknowledgments
An earlier version of this paper was submitted to Hokuriku University as a joint graduation thesis project of my students (Momoko Futonagane, Toiro Nagasawa, Kohei Nakamura, and Koyuki Saito). It was also presented at the 4th International Conference on East Asian Psycholinguistics (ICTEAP-4) at Dongguk University in 2023. I thank the students for allowing me to make a presentation at ICTEAP-4 and to submit this paper to this journal. I also thank the audience at ICTEAP-4, the members of the TPL, my colleagues, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions. I would like to especially express my gratitude to Tetsuya Sano, Kyoko Yamakoshi, Wataru Sugiura, Yu Tazaki, and Miki Fujiki. All remaining errors are my own.
Appendix
Test items.
[Practice session].
| Sarusan-wa | banana-o | tot-ta | yo. |
| monkey-TOP | banana-ACC | take-PAST | SFP |
| ‘The monkey took the banana.’ |
| Kumasan-wa | itigo-o | tot-ta | yo. |
| bear-TOP | strawberry-ACC | take-PAST | SFP |
| ‘The bear took the strawberry.’ |
| Usagisan-wa | booru-o | kat-ta | yo. |
| rabbit-TOP | ball-ACC | buy-PAST | SFP |
| ‘The rabbit bought the ball.’ |
| Inusan-wa | kureyon-o | kat-ta | yo. |
| dog-TOP | crayon-ACC | buy-PAST | SFP |
| ‘The dog bought the crayon.’ |
[Target section].
| Usisan-wa | mikan-dake-o | tot-ta | yo. |
| cow-TOP | orange-FOC-ACC | take-PAST | SFP |
| ‘The cow took only the orange.’ |
| Nezumisan-wa | ninzin-dake-o | kat-ta | yo. |
| mouse-TOP | carrot-FOC-ACC | buy-PAST | SFP |
| ‘The mouse bought only the carrot.’ |
| Nekosan-wa | kani-dake-o | tot-ta | yo. |
| cat-TOP | crab-FOC-ACC | take-PAST | SFP |
| ‘The cat took only the crab.’ |
| Hiyokosan-wa | houki-dake-o | kat-ta | yo. |
| chick-TOP | broom-FOC-ACC | buy-PAST | SFP |
| ‘The chick bought only the broom.’ |
| Sakuranbo-dake-o | niwatorisan-wa | tot-ta | yo. |
| cherry-FOC-ACC | chicken-TOP | take-PAST | SFP |
| ‘Only the cherry, the chicken took.’ |
| Hasami-dake-o | hituzisan-wa | kat-ta | yo. |
| scissors-FOC-ACC | sheep-TOP | buy-PAST | SFP |
| ‘Only the scissors, the sheep bought.’ |
| Hanada-dake-o | nekosan-wa | tot-ta | yo. |
| flower-FOC-ACC | cat-TOP | take-PAST | SFP |
| ‘Only the flower, the cat took.’ |
| Piiman-dake-o | torasan-wa | kat-ta | yo. |
| pepper-FOC-ACC | tiger-TOP | buy-PAST | SFP |
| ‘Only the pepper, the tiger bought.’ |
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© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Advancements in Japanese psycholinguistics: developmental and acquisitional perspectives
- Editors’ Notes
- Guest Editors’ Notes
- Articles
- Prosodic influence on quantifier scope interpretation in Japanese-speaking children and adults: a picture-selection study
- Incorrect association of the focus particle dake: new evidence from child Japanese
- Exploring the emergence of language-unique event perception and description in children
- The empathetic utterance-final particle -ne in Japanese: a study on its phonological representation
- Similarity effect in morphological generalization: Using the volitional form elicited production task of Japanese verbs with suru ending
- The role of pitch accent in lexical recognition in Japanese: evidence from event-related potential and gamma-band activity
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Advancements in Japanese psycholinguistics: developmental and acquisitional perspectives
- Editors’ Notes
- Guest Editors’ Notes
- Articles
- Prosodic influence on quantifier scope interpretation in Japanese-speaking children and adults: a picture-selection study
- Incorrect association of the focus particle dake: new evidence from child Japanese
- Exploring the emergence of language-unique event perception and description in children
- The empathetic utterance-final particle -ne in Japanese: a study on its phonological representation
- Similarity effect in morphological generalization: Using the volitional form elicited production task of Japanese verbs with suru ending
- The role of pitch accent in lexical recognition in Japanese: evidence from event-related potential and gamma-band activity
