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Chapter 11. The acquisition of the wh -pronoun duo-shao in child Mandarin

  • Aijun Huang and Francesco-Alessio Ursini
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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

The Mandarin Chinese wh-pronouns ji-ge ‘how many-cl’ and duo-shao ‘a lot-a little’ can be roughly translated in English as ‘how-many’ and ‘how-much’, respectively. When these two wh-pronouns interact with the negation operator mei ‘not’, there derive similar but not identical readings: while the negative ji-ge structure conveys a ‘smallness’ in number (i.e., ‘small-number’), the negative duo-shao structure conveys a ‘smallness’ in quantity (i.e., ‘small-amount’). Huang and Crain (2014a) studied Mandarin-speaking children’s acquisition of the ‘small-number’ reading of the negative ji-ge structure. It was found that children undergo three developmental stages in the acquisition of the ‘small-number’ reading of the negative ji-ge structure, exhibiting the emergence of the full range of the meanings of ji-ge in the course of language development. The present study extends the inquiry of Huang and Crain (2014a) and investigates the acquisition of the ‘small-amount’ reading of the negative duo-shao structure. The experimental data exhibit two developmental stages, which are argued to reflect the development of the semantic and pragmatic properties of the wh-pronoun duo-shao. In short, the acquisition scenario of the negative duo-shao structure is different from that of the negative ji-ge structure, but both studies suggest that the semantic and pragmatic properties of Chinese wh-pronouns determine the acquisition of Chinese wh-pronouns in negative structures.

Abstract

The Mandarin Chinese wh-pronouns ji-ge ‘how many-cl’ and duo-shao ‘a lot-a little’ can be roughly translated in English as ‘how-many’ and ‘how-much’, respectively. When these two wh-pronouns interact with the negation operator mei ‘not’, there derive similar but not identical readings: while the negative ji-ge structure conveys a ‘smallness’ in number (i.e., ‘small-number’), the negative duo-shao structure conveys a ‘smallness’ in quantity (i.e., ‘small-amount’). Huang and Crain (2014a) studied Mandarin-speaking children’s acquisition of the ‘small-number’ reading of the negative ji-ge structure. It was found that children undergo three developmental stages in the acquisition of the ‘small-number’ reading of the negative ji-ge structure, exhibiting the emergence of the full range of the meanings of ji-ge in the course of language development. The present study extends the inquiry of Huang and Crain (2014a) and investigates the acquisition of the ‘small-amount’ reading of the negative duo-shao structure. The experimental data exhibit two developmental stages, which are argued to reflect the development of the semantic and pragmatic properties of the wh-pronoun duo-shao. In short, the acquisition scenario of the negative duo-shao structure is different from that of the negative ji-ge structure, but both studies suggest that the semantic and pragmatic properties of Chinese wh-pronouns determine the acquisition of Chinese wh-pronouns in negative structures.

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.60.12hua

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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