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Chapter 3. Logophoric z iji in Mandarin child language

  • Yi-ching Su
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Studies in Chinese and Japanese Language Acquisition
This chapter is in the book Studies in Chinese and Japanese Language Acquisition

Abstract

Research on reflexivization in the past two decades has in general converged on a mixed approach, which acknowledges both syntactic conditions of anaphor binding and logophoric considerations (e.g., Reinhart & Reuland 1993; Pollard & Xue 2001; Huang & Liu 2001). However, these analyses differ in where to draw the dividing line between the two functions of the Mandarin reflexive ziji. Following the widely accepted generalization that children’s mastery of the discourse or pragmatic related constraints is observed long after that of the syntactic constraints, this study conducts two experiments to investigate Mandarin-speaking children’s and adults’ logophoric interpretations of sentences with ziji, using a Truth Value Judgment Task, and compares the patterns with their anaphoric interpretations of sentences with ziji. The results show that Mandarin-acquiring preschool children around age 5–6 still have not mastered the interpretations for sentences with logophoric ziji, even though there is only one sentence-internal antecedent. The findings provide clear empirical support for the claim that logophoric binding modulated by discourse/ pragmatic principles indeed takes a longer time for children to acquire than syntactically governed anaphoric binding.

Abstract

Research on reflexivization in the past two decades has in general converged on a mixed approach, which acknowledges both syntactic conditions of anaphor binding and logophoric considerations (e.g., Reinhart & Reuland 1993; Pollard & Xue 2001; Huang & Liu 2001). However, these analyses differ in where to draw the dividing line between the two functions of the Mandarin reflexive ziji. Following the widely accepted generalization that children’s mastery of the discourse or pragmatic related constraints is observed long after that of the syntactic constraints, this study conducts two experiments to investigate Mandarin-speaking children’s and adults’ logophoric interpretations of sentences with ziji, using a Truth Value Judgment Task, and compares the patterns with their anaphoric interpretations of sentences with ziji. The results show that Mandarin-acquiring preschool children around age 5–6 still have not mastered the interpretations for sentences with logophoric ziji, even though there is only one sentence-internal antecedent. The findings provide clear empirical support for the claim that logophoric binding modulated by discourse/ pragmatic principles indeed takes a longer time for children to acquire than syntactically governed anaphoric binding.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Studies in Chinese and Japanese Language Acquisition 1
  4. Part I. Tasks
  5. Chapter 1. The Truth Value Judgment Task 13
  6. Chapter 2. Negation, uncertainty, and the Truth Value Judgment Task 41
  7. Part II. Binding
  8. Chapter 3. Logophoric z iji in Mandarin child language 65
  9. Chapter 4. Kare and the acquisition of bound variable interpretations by Korean speaking learners of Japanese 85
  10. Chapter 5. Interpretation of bound pronouns by learners of Japanese Sign Language 107
  11. Chapter 6. The acquisition of the non-subject status of nominative objects in Japanese 127
  12. Part III. Scope Interactions
  13. Chapter 7. Scrambling and locality constraints in child Japanese 147
  14. Chapter 8. On scope interaction between subject QPs and negation in child grammar 165
  15. Chapter 9. Native and non-native comprehension of the Japanese existential quantifier nanko-ka 197
  16. Part IV. Wh-words and Logical Expressions
  17. Chapter 10. Free choice and wh -indefinites in child Mandarin 223
  18. Chapter 11. The acquisition of the wh -pronoun duo-shao in child Mandarin 237
  19. Chapter 12. Logical expressions in Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorders 265
  20. Name Index 281
  21. Subject Index 285
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.60.04su

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Studies in Chinese and Japanese Language Acquisition 1
  4. Part I. Tasks
  5. Chapter 1. The Truth Value Judgment Task 13
  6. Chapter 2. Negation, uncertainty, and the Truth Value Judgment Task 41
  7. Part II. Binding
  8. Chapter 3. Logophoric z iji in Mandarin child language 65
  9. Chapter 4. Kare and the acquisition of bound variable interpretations by Korean speaking learners of Japanese 85
  10. Chapter 5. Interpretation of bound pronouns by learners of Japanese Sign Language 107
  11. Chapter 6. The acquisition of the non-subject status of nominative objects in Japanese 127
  12. Part III. Scope Interactions
  13. Chapter 7. Scrambling and locality constraints in child Japanese 147
  14. Chapter 8. On scope interaction between subject QPs and negation in child grammar 165
  15. Chapter 9. Native and non-native comprehension of the Japanese existential quantifier nanko-ka 197
  16. Part IV. Wh-words and Logical Expressions
  17. Chapter 10. Free choice and wh -indefinites in child Mandarin 223
  18. Chapter 11. The acquisition of the wh -pronoun duo-shao in child Mandarin 237
  19. Chapter 12. Logical expressions in Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorders 265
  20. Name Index 281
  21. Subject Index 285
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