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Predicting the development of interrogative forms and functions in early years: a corpus-based study of Mandarin-speaking young children*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

HUI LI Open the ORCID record for HUI LI [Opens in a new window] ,
MENGGUO JING  and
EILEEN CHIN MEI WONG
HUI LI*
Affiliation:
The University of Hong Kong, PRC
MENGGUO JING
Affiliation:
The University of Hong Kong, PRC
EILEEN CHIN MEI WONG
Affiliation:
The University of Hong Kong, PRC
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Hui Li, Men Wah Complex Room 509, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. tel: (852) 39175248; fax: (852) 2858-5649; e-mail:huili@hku.hk
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Abstract

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.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , January 2017 , pp. 216 - 238
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Footnotes

[*]

This paper is based on a project (RGC Ref No. 747109) funded to the first author by the Research Grants Council of the Government of the Hong Kong SAR. Thanks are given to all the participating children and their parents, Professor A. H. Liu, Dr Eva Chen, and the student research assistants.

References

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