Scope and specificity in child language: A cross-linguistic study on English and Chinese.
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TextDescription: 181 pISBN: 049318810XSubject(s): Language, Linguistics | Education, Early Childhood | 0290 | 0518Dissertation note: Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Maryland College Park, 2001. Summary: This dissertation investigated the way in which English-speaking and Chinese-speaking children interpret ‘<italic>a</italic>’ and ‘<italic> yi-ge</italic>’ respectively in sentences containing the universal quantifier or negation. Three series of experiments were conducted, using a truth value judgement task.Summary: The first experiment examined how children interpreted unambiguous double object sentences like “Snow White gave a lady every flower” and ambiguous <italic>to</italic>-dative sentences like “The teacher gave every ball to a girl” in English and Chinese. The results showed that English-speaking children assigned a non-adult universal wide scope reading to the double object sentences, and their pattern of preference for <italic> to</italic>-dative sentences was the opposite from adults. Chinese-speaking children showed the same pattern of interpretations as adults for both sentence types.Summary: The second experiment tested the hypothesis that English-speaking children's non-adult interpretation resulted from their interpreting the double object sentences via the corresponding <italic>to</italic>-dative sentences. Sentences like “The witch threw the Pooh his chair” and “The smurf brought his brother Tigger” were used for testing, in which “his” can co-refer with the other object NP in the former but not in the latter. If children interpreted the double object sentences via the corresponding <italic> to</italic>-dative sentences, the possibility of co-reference for the pronoun would be different. The results showed that since English-speaking children had adult-like interpretations for the sentences tested, the hypothesis was not supported.Summary: The third experiment tested the hypothesis that at an early stage of development, English-speaking children interpret ‘<italic>a</italic>’ as meaning free choice “any”, whereas Chinese-speaking children consider ‘<italic>yi-ge</italic>’ to mean “exactly one”. Sentences with negation like “Mickey Mouse didn't ride a dog” were presented both in a context in which Mickey Mouse didn't ride one of the dogs, and in a context in which he didn't ride any of the dogs. The results showed that Chinese-speaking children predominantly accepted the former reading, but English-speaking children preferred the latter reading.Summary: The results of the three experiments suggest that English-speaking and Chinese-speaking children start off with a limited but different interpretations for ‘<italic>a</italic>’ and ‘<italic>yi-ge</italic>’, and this results in the differences in scope assignment.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 62-03, Section: A, page: 0995.
Director: Stephen Crain.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Maryland College Park, 2001.
This dissertation investigated the way in which English-speaking and Chinese-speaking children interpret ‘<italic>a</italic>’ and ‘<italic> yi-ge</italic>’ respectively in sentences containing the universal quantifier or negation. Three series of experiments were conducted, using a truth value judgement task.
The first experiment examined how children interpreted unambiguous double object sentences like “Snow White gave a lady every flower” and ambiguous <italic>to</italic>-dative sentences like “The teacher gave every ball to a girl” in English and Chinese. The results showed that English-speaking children assigned a non-adult universal wide scope reading to the double object sentences, and their pattern of preference for <italic> to</italic>-dative sentences was the opposite from adults. Chinese-speaking children showed the same pattern of interpretations as adults for both sentence types.
The second experiment tested the hypothesis that English-speaking children's non-adult interpretation resulted from their interpreting the double object sentences via the corresponding <italic>to</italic>-dative sentences. Sentences like “The witch threw the Pooh his chair” and “The smurf brought his brother Tigger” were used for testing, in which “his” can co-refer with the other object NP in the former but not in the latter. If children interpreted the double object sentences via the corresponding <italic> to</italic>-dative sentences, the possibility of co-reference for the pronoun would be different. The results showed that since English-speaking children had adult-like interpretations for the sentences tested, the hypothesis was not supported.
The third experiment tested the hypothesis that at an early stage of development, English-speaking children interpret ‘<italic>a</italic>’ as meaning free choice “any”, whereas Chinese-speaking children consider ‘<italic>yi-ge</italic>’ to mean “exactly one”. Sentences with negation like “Mickey Mouse didn't ride a dog” were presented both in a context in which Mickey Mouse didn't ride one of the dogs, and in a context in which he didn't ride any of the dogs. The results showed that Chinese-speaking children predominantly accepted the former reading, but English-speaking children preferred the latter reading.
The results of the three experiments suggest that English-speaking and Chinese-speaking children start off with a limited but different interpretations for ‘<italic>a</italic>’ and ‘<italic>yi-ge</italic>’, and this results in the differences in scope assignment.
School code: 0117.
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