Syntactic Cues to Individuation in Mandarin Chinese.

IF 0.2 Q4 LINGUISTICS Journal of Cognitive Science Pub Date : 2009-07-01 DOI:10.17791/jcs.2009.10.2.135
Pierina Cheung, David Barner, Peggy Li
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引用次数: 10

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.

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普通话个性化的句法线索。
当一个实体(例如,木制的蜜罐)被标记为一个新奇的名词时,听者如何知道这个名词指的是一种对象类型(蜜罐)而不是一种实体类型(木头)?当说英语的人利用计数质量语法来寻找名词含义的线索时,语言学家提出,缺乏计数质量语法的分类语言提供了其他句法线索。三个实验测试了说普通话的人在解释新名词时对小后缀“-zi”和一般分类词“ge”的敏感度。实验1发现-zi在表示物体种类的名词中出现得更频繁。实验2显示,普通话成年人在推断新词义时对“ge”和“-zi”的敏感性。实验三测试了三到六岁的普通话儿童对年龄的敏感性。我们讨论了这些线索相对于英语线索在发展过程中的差异,以及这种差异对儿童对个性化理解的影响。
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期刊介绍: Journal of Cognitive Science is an official journal of the International Association for Cognitive Science (IACS, http://ia-cs.org) and published quarterly by the Institute for Cognitive Science at Seoul National University, located in Seoul, Korea. The Association currently consists of member societies of different countries such as Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and European Union. However, paper submission by anyone in the whole world is welcome at any time. Its main concern is to showcase research articles of highest quality and significance within the disciplines of cognitive science, including, but not limited to, philosophy, psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, aesthetics, anthropology, and education, insofar as it is deemed to be of interest to those who pursue the study of mind. In particular, we would like to encourage submissions that cross the traditional disciplinary boundaries. The Journal of Cognitive Science (JCS) is published quarterly on 31 March, 30 June, 30 September, 31 December (founded in 2000) as the official journal of International Association for Cognitive Science (IACS) by the Institute for Cognitive Science at Seoul National University. It is a SCOPUS, ESCI, EBSCO, KCI journal. It aims to publish research articles of the highest quality and significance within the disciplines that form cognitive science, including philosophy, psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, anthropology, and education for Interdisciplinary Journal. Submissions that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries in either themes or methods are especially encouraged. AI-associated Cognitive Science will be newly reinforced and papers in this area are encouraged to be submitted.
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