Children's understanding of dou in Chinese

Peng Zhou

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference proceeding contribution

    Abstract

    The quantifier dou (roughly corresponding to English 'all') in Chinese has been the topic of much discussion in the theoretical literature. This study investigated children's knowledge of this quantifier, using a new methodological technique, which we dubbed Question-Statement Task. Two questions were discussed: (i) whether young Mandarin-speaking children know that dou is a universal quantifier that quantifies over the elements to its left, and (ii) whether they know that dou can quantify over wh-words. It was found that by age four Mandarin-speaking children already have the relevant knowledge. These results reflect early availability of adult-like linguistic knowledge of dou-quantification.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of GLOW in Asia VII 2009
    EditorsRajat Mohanty, Mythili Menon
    Place of PublicationHyderabad, India
    PublisherEFL University Press
    Pages87-96
    Number of pages10
    ISBN (Print)9789380425016
    Publication statusPublished - 2009
    EventGLOW in Asia (7th : 2009) - Hyderabad, India
    Duration: 25 Feb 200927 Feb 2009

    Conference

    ConferenceGLOW in Asia (7th : 2009)
    CityHyderabad, India
    Period25/02/0927/02/09

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Children's understanding of dou in Chinese'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this