Syntactic Cues to Individuation in Mandarin Chinese
0
조회
0
다운로드
0
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
When presented with an entity (e.g., a wooden honey-dipper) labeled with a novel noun, how does a listener know that the noun refers to an instance of an object kind (honey-dipper) rather than to a substance kind (wood)? While English speakers draw upon count-mass syntax for clues to the noun’s meaning, linguists have proposed that classifier languages, which lack count-mass syntax, provide other syntactic cues. Three experiments tested Mandarin-speakers’ sensitivity to the diminutive suffix -zi and the general classifier ge when interpreting novel nouns. Experiment 1 found that -zi occurs more frequently with nouns that denote object kinds. Experiment 2 demonstrated Mandarin-speaking adults’ sensitivity to ge and -zi when inferring novel word meanings. Experiment 3 tested Mandarin three- to six-year-olds’ sensitivity to ge. We discuss differences in the developmental course of these cues relative to cues in English, and the impact of this difference to children’s understanding of individuation.
Abstract
When presented with an entity (e.g., a wooden honey-dipper) labeled with a novel noun, how does a listener know that the noun refers to an instance of an object kind (honey-dipper) rather than to a substance kind (wood)? While English speakers draw upon count-mass syntax for clues to the noun’s meaning, linguists have proposed that classifier languages, which lack count-mass syntax, provide other syntactic cues. Three experiments tested Mandarin-speakers’ sensitivity to the diminutive suffix -zi and the general classifier ge when interpreting novel nouns. Experiment 1 found that -zi occurs more frequently with nouns that denote object kinds. Experiment 2 demonstrated Mandarin-speaking adults’ sensitivity to ge and -zi when inferring novel word meanings. Experiment 3 tested Mandarin three- to six-year-olds’ sensitivity to ge. We discuss differences in the developmental course of these cues relative to cues in English, and the impact of this difference to children’s understanding of individuation.
참고문헌 (22)
- Allan,K, "Nouns and countability", Language, 56, pp.541~567 (1980)
- Barner, D, "Language, thought, and real nouns", Cognition, 111, pp.329~344 (2009)
- Chao,Y, "A Grammar of Spoken Chinese" (1968), University of California Press, Berkeley, CA
- Cheng, L.L.-S, "Classifiers and massifiers’, Tsing-Hua Journal of Chinese Studies", New Series, XXVIII(3), pp.395~412 (1998)
- Cheng, L.L.-S, "‘Bare and not-so-bare nouns and the structure of NP’", Linguistic Inquiry, 30, pp.509~542 (1999)
- Chien, Y-C, "Chinese children’s comprehension of count classifiers and mass-classifiers’", Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 12, pp.91~120 (2003)
- Chierchia,G, "Reference to kinds across languages", Natural Language Semantics, 6, pp.339~405 (1998)
- Doetjes,J, "Quantifiers and selection: On the distribution of quantifying expressions in French, Dutch and English", Ph. D., pp.1997
- Dragunov,A.A, "Untersuchungen zur Grammatik der modernen Chinesischen Sprarache" (1960), Akademie-Verlag, Berlin.
- Erbaugh,M, "Taking stock: The development of Chinese noun classifiers historically and in young children", pp.399~436 (1986), John Benjamins, Amsterdam.
- Imai, M, "A cross-linguistic study on early word meaning. Universal ontology and linguistic influence", Cognition, 62, pp.169~200 (1997)
- Imai, M, "Language-relative construal of individuation constrained by universal ontology: Revisiting language universals and linguistic relativity", Cognitive Science, 31, pp.385~413 (2007)
- Li, P, "Classifiers as count syntax: Individuation and measurement in the acquisition of Mandarin Chinese", Language Learning and Development, 4, pp.1~42 (2008)
- Li, C, "Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar" (1981), University of California Press, Berkeley, CA
- Li, P, "Of substance: The nature of language effects on entity construal", Cognitive Psychology, 58, pp.487~524 (2009)
- Samuelson, L, "Early noun vocabularies: Do ontology, category structure and syntax correspond?", Cognition, 73, pp.1~33 (1999)
- Sandhofer, C, "Counting nouns and verbs in the input: Differential frequencies, different kinds of learning?", Journal of Child Language, 27, pp.561~585 (2000)
- Soja, N.N, "Ontological categories guide young children’s inductions of word meaning: Object terms and substance terms", Cognition, 38, pp.179~211 (1991)
- "Yŭyánxué lùncōng", 2007, 234~245
- Uchida, N, "Heuristics in learning classifiers: The acquisition of the classifier system and its implications for the nature of lexical acquisition", Japanese Psychological Research, 41, pp.50~69 (1999)
- Wiltschko,M, "Why should diminutives count? Organizing Grammar" (2006), Walter de Gryter, Berlin
- Byeong-Uk Yi, "Chinese Classifiers and Count Nouns", Journal of Cognitive Science, 10(2), pp.209~225 (2009), 인지과학연구소