Chinese Children's Knowledge of Topicalization: Experimental Evidence from a Comprehension Study

Autor/inn/en	Hu, Shenai; Guasti, Maria Teresa; Gavarró, Anna
Titel	Chinese Children's Knowledge of Topicalization: Experimental Evidence from a Comprehension Study
Quelle	In: Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 47 (2018) 6, S.1279-1300 (22 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Hu, Shenai)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0090-6905
DOI	10.1007/s10936-018-9575-6
Schlagwörter	Linguistic Theory; Mandarin Chinese; Grammar; Semantics; Syntax; Pictorial Stimuli; Task Analysis; Toddlers; Young Children; Language Processing; Psycholinguistics; Knowledge Level + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Linguistische Theorie; Grammatik; Semantik; Fantasieanregung; Aufgabenanalyse; Infant; Infants; Toddler; Kleinkind; Frühe Kindheit; Sprachverarbeitung; Psycholinguistik; Wissensbasis
Abstract	There is a debate as to whether topic structures in Chinese involve A'-movement or result from base-generation of the topic in the left periphery. If Chinese topicalization was derived by movement, under the assumptions of Friedmann et al.'s Relativized Minimality (Lingua 119:67-88, 2009), we would expect children's comprehension of object topicalization (with OSV order) to be worse than their comprehension of subject topicalization (with SVO order). This study examined 146 Mandarin-speaking children from age three to age six by means of a picture-sentence matching task with an appropriate context. The results showed a subject/object asymmetry when the topic marker is overt, and no asymmetry when the topic marker is covert. This suggests that the presence or absence of topic markers play an important role in children's comprehension of topicalization. We propose that both structures involve movement in the adult grammar, but not in the child grammar, at least initially. Sentences without overt topic markers are base-generated on a par with gapless sentences with a topic, and the base-generation analysis is abandoned as soon as children learn the syntax and semantics of topic markers, which function as attractors of topics. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01