ERIC Number: EJ1122622
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Jan
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-0009
EISSN: N/A
Predicting the Development of Interrogative Forms and Functions in Early Years: A Corpus-Based Study of Mandarin-Speaking Young Children
Li, Hui; Jing, Mengguo; Wong, Eileen Chin Mei
Journal of Child Language, v44 n1 p216-238 Jan 2017
This study examined the development of and possible predictors of interrogative forms and functions in early childhood Mandarin. All the interrogatives drawn from the Early Child Mandarin Corpus (168 children 2;6, 3;6, 4;6, and 5;6) were analyzed. The main results indicated that (i) there were significant age effects in interrogative forms and functions, with the periods between the ages of 3;6 and 4;6 and between the ages of 2;6 and 3;6 being critical in the early acquisition of interrogative forms and functions, respectively; (ii) the form-function preference was verified, with wh-questions being primarily used to seek information ("RfI"), and intonation/echo and rhetorical questions being used to request action ("RfA"); (iii) more than half (59·5%) of the Mandarin interrogatives were used for "RfI," whereas only 38·9% of them were used for "RfA"; and (iv) age, TV viewing time, and parent-child conversation time were the significant predictors of interrogative development.
Descriptors: Mandarin Chinese, Child Language, Computational Linguistics, Language Acquisition, Toddlers, Young Children, Age Differences, Information Seeking, Parent Child Relationship, Form Classes (Languages), Preferences, Television Viewing, Predictor Variables
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A