兒童對漢語光桿名詞和指示詞組的理解

Interpretation of Bare and Demonstrative Noun Phrases in the Acquisition of Mandarin

漢語名詞組可以用光桿名詞或非光桿名詞的形式帶著不同含意在句子中的不同位置出現。問題是若光桿名詞可以有不同含意，漢語兒童如何理解？另外，兒童如何理解像指示詞組這樣的非光桿名詞呢？本實驗考察漢語兒童與成人對名詞組的理解，結果發現名詞類型和年齡對名詞的理解有顯著影響。研究發現（1）兒童能區分光桿名詞和指示詞組，光桿名詞較多地被理解為類指（generic）。（2）兒童和成人都允許光桿名詞被理解為類指或定指（definite）。（3）兒童和成人對指示詞組的理解有清楚的差異。兒童在相當次數尚將指示詞組詮釋為類指。關於這個在成人語法中不被允許的對指示詞組的類指詮釋，個體分析發現對指示詞組的類指詮釋和對光桿名詞的類指詮釋具有相關性。這表明那些較多地將指示詞組詮釋為類指的受試者也更可能將光桿名詞詮釋為類指。同時經由實驗發現，名詞出現的順序和謂詞的屬性，也都會影響對名詞組的詮釋。

Mandarin nominals may appear bare or non-bare in various positions with different interpretations. Questions arise as to how Mandarin-speaking children interpret bare nominals, given that bare nominals can have various interpretations. On the other hand, how do they interpret non-bare nominals, such as demonstrative nominals? This experimental study tested the interpretation of nominals among Mandarin-speaking children and adults and found that nominal types and age have significant effects on interpretation. The findings include the following. (i)Children distinguish between bare and demonstrative nominals by assigning more generic interpretations to bare nominals. (ii)Children, like adults, have both generic and existential definite readings for bare nominal subjects. (iii)A clear discrepancy exists between children’s and adults’ interpretation of demonstrative nominals. Children assigned a considerable amount of generic interpretation to Mandarin demonstrative nominals, which lack such readings in adult grammar. With respect to the non-target generic reading of demonstratives, individual analysis was conducted to further examine this finding. Via such analysis, correlations were found between the generic reading for demonstratives and that for bare nominals, which suggests that those assigning more generic reading to demonstrative nominals are more likely to assign this reading to bare nominals. In addition, as part of the experimental design, two variables are found to play a role in the interpretation of nominals: the presentation order of nominals and a property of the predicates. The overall findings accord with the research hypothesis and predictions based on the Nominal Mapping Parameter, the Semantic Subset Principle, and other studies.