CHILDREN`S USE OF PROSODY IN RESOLVING A SYNTACTIC AMBIGUITY ASSOCIATED WITH ONLY: EVIDENCE FROM MANDARIN

Abstract

This study examined the age at which Mandarin-speaking children can resolve a syntactic ambiguity associated with the focus particle zhi `only` in an adult-like way by means of prosody. It tested eight age groups, from three-year-olds to ten-year-olds, by having the children perform a picture-choice task. They were asked to identify the picture that correctly illustrated the intended meaning of an ambiguous sentence served by prosody. Results showed that the NP closer to the focus particle was resolved earlier, likely due to proximity or limited working memory. Furthermore, this type of ambiguity exhibited a very late acquired phenomenon: only ten-year-olds showed an adult-like performance in the resolution of the ambiguity. The results of this study support the view (Singh and Fu 2016) that, due to the interaction between tone and intonation, a tone language is acquired more slowly than a non-tone language.

本研究旨在探尋以普通話為母語的兒童在何年齡階段成功地使用韻律解決由“只”引起的句法歧義。在本研究的實驗中，要求3到10歲的兒童被試者根據聽到的雙賓語句中的韻律來選擇與此句意義相匹配的圖片。實驗結果顯示被試者可以在更早的年齡階段識別韻律在間接賓語上的雙賓句意義，其原因一方面是間接賓語更靠近短劇詞“只”，另一方面歸因於有限的工作記憶。兒童較晚才能習得韻律來解決由“只”引起的句法歧義。實驗表明10歲年齡段的兒童能充分運用韻律解決由“只”引起的句法歧義，表現出和成人的無差異性。本研究的結果進一步印證了Singh and Fu（2016）的觀點，由於聲調和語調的相互作用，聲調語言比非聲調語言習得得更晚。