32.3236, Books: How Do Mandarin Chinese Children Build Bridges?: Xie

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-32-3236. Thu Oct 14 2021. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 32.3236, Books: How Do Mandarin Chinese Children Build Bridges?: Xie

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Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 20:52:16
From: Janacy van Duijn Genet [lot at uva.nl]
Subject: How Do Mandarin Chinese Children Build Bridges?: Xie

 


Title: How Do Mandarin Chinese Children Build Bridges? 
Subtitle: A Syntax-Discourse Processing Model of Referential Dependencies and its
Application 
Series Title: LOT Dissertation Series  

Publication Year: 2021 
Publisher: Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke (LOT)
	   http://www.lotpublications.nl/
	

Book URL: https://www.lotpublications.nl/how-do-mandarin-chinese-children-build-bridges 


Author: Yuan Xie

Paperback: ISBN:  9789460933820 Pages: 257 Price: Europe EURO 33


Abstract:

This dissertation aims to explore how Mandarin Chinese children from 3 to 6
years old acquire knowledge of referential dependencies at the
syntax-discourse interface. Such dependencies require a form of bridge
building between the element ziji (self-))and an antecedent like Zhangsan, or
between a definite noun phrase like zuozhe (the author) and an earlier
mentioned noun phrase like (yi)-ben shu (a book).

In order to achieve this goal, I first built a Syntax-Discourse-Processing
(S-D-P) model to describe the mechanisms of referential dependencies in
Mandarin Chinese. This model is needed because purely syntactic theories and
purely discourse theories are both insufficient to explain various referential
dependencies (especially in Mandarin Chinese). The model proposed takes both
the morphosyntactic features and discourse factors into consideration, with a
processing and computational flavor (e.g. memory and information), providing
new insights into existing syntactic and discourse theories on referential
dependencies.

With this model, I then conducted two language comprehension experiments to
test Mandarin Chinese children’s knowledge of referential dependencies. The
findings show that Mandarin children begin to demonstrate syntax-discourse
interface knowledge at a very early age. Specifically, they know how to build
a bridge between ziji and its antecedent, as well as a bridge between a
definite noun phrase and its antecedent, at around 3 to 4 years old, and after
the age of 4 they show fully adult-like behavior. These acquisition profiles
of Mandarin Chinese children can also provide data for a general comparison
with their Dutch counterparts in previous studies and offer support for the
newly proposed model.
 



Linguistic Field(s): Language Acquisition
                     Syntax

Subject Language(s): Chinese, Mandarin (cmn)


Written In: English  (eng)

See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=156733




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