Acquisition of non-canonical word orders in Mandarin Chinese
To better understand Mandarin-speaking children’s acquisition of non-canonical word orders, we tested comprehension and production of Mandarin non-canonical active ba-construction and passive bei-construction, in comparison with canonical active SVO sentences among 180 children between three and 6 y...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1006148/full |
| _version_ | 1797845559290101760 |
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| author | Yue Ji Li Sheng Li Zheng |
| author_facet | Yue Ji Li Sheng Li Zheng |
| author_sort | Yue Ji |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | To better understand Mandarin-speaking children’s acquisition of non-canonical word orders, we tested comprehension and production of Mandarin non-canonical active ba-construction and passive bei-construction, in comparison with canonical active SVO sentences among 180 children between three and 6 years of age. Our results showed that children had more difficulties with bei-construction compared to SVO sentences in both comprehension and production, but early problems of ba-construction only lied in production. We discussed these patterns in connection with two accounts of language acquisition which attribute language development to the maturation of grammar or to the exposure to the input, respectively. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:40:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b933dd5ce7f94302b6f2dc5270a876d6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:40:59Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-b933dd5ce7f94302b6f2dc5270a876d62023-04-17T05:50:48ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782023-04-011410.3389/fpsyg.2023.10061481006148Acquisition of non-canonical word orders in Mandarin ChineseYue Ji0Li Sheng1Li Zheng2Department of English, School of Foreign Languages, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, ChinaDepartment of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaCollege of Education Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, ChinaTo better understand Mandarin-speaking children’s acquisition of non-canonical word orders, we tested comprehension and production of Mandarin non-canonical active ba-construction and passive bei-construction, in comparison with canonical active SVO sentences among 180 children between three and 6 years of age. Our results showed that children had more difficulties with bei-construction compared to SVO sentences in both comprehension and production, but early problems of ba-construction only lied in production. We discussed these patterns in connection with two accounts of language acquisition which attribute language development to the maturation of grammar or to the exposure to the input, respectively.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1006148/fullba-constructionbei-constructionword orderlanguage acquisitionMandarin |
| spellingShingle | Yue Ji Li Sheng Li Zheng Acquisition of non-canonical word orders in Mandarin Chinese Frontiers in Psychology ba-construction bei-construction word order language acquisition Mandarin |
| title | Acquisition of non-canonical word orders in Mandarin Chinese |
| title_full | Acquisition of non-canonical word orders in Mandarin Chinese |
| title_fullStr | Acquisition of non-canonical word orders in Mandarin Chinese |
| title_full_unstemmed | Acquisition of non-canonical word orders in Mandarin Chinese |
| title_short | Acquisition of non-canonical word orders in Mandarin Chinese |
| title_sort | acquisition of non canonical word orders in mandarin chinese |
| topic | ba-construction bei-construction word order language acquisition Mandarin |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1006148/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yueji acquisitionofnoncanonicalwordordersinmandarinchinese AT lisheng acquisitionofnoncanonicalwordordersinmandarinchinese AT lizheng acquisitionofnoncanonicalwordordersinmandarinchinese |