SRCLD Presentation Details
  Title  
       
    Acquisition and delay of exhaustivity in multiple wh-questions: evidence from children acquiring Mandarin.  
Author(s)
Jill de Villiers - Smith College
Chunyang Ning - Tianjin Normal University
Lucy Liu - U. Texas at Dallas; Bethel Hearing and Speaking Training Center,
Eric Rolfhus - Bethel Hearing and Speaking Training Center,
Hutchings Teresa - Bethel Hearing and Speaking Training Center,
Lee Wendy - Bethel Hearing and Speaking Training Center,
Yiwen Zhang - Shanghai Children’s Medical Center Affiliated with the Medical School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Fang Jiang - Shanghai Children’s Medical Center Affiliated with the Medical School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

SRCLD Info
SRCLD Year: 2016
Presentation Type: Poster Presentation
Poster Number:
Presentation Time: (na)
Categories
Abstract
Data come from a new Mandarin assessment in Mainland China. There are norms for Receptive and Expressive language, Syntax, and Semantics. It included properties that are sensitive to language impairment cross-linguistically, such as exhaustive answers to paired wh-questions. The semantic challenge is linking the exhaustive set properties of wh questions together. Across 12 European languages, 5 year olds answer questions about 60% of the time with a paired exhaustive answer. Furthermore, this has proved to be a challenging task for German and English children with language impairment. This is the first such study of a non-wh-movement language, Mandarin. Results on over 1000 Mandarin speaking children aged 2;6 to 7;11 revealed performance on average very close to that of children tested in the 12 European languages at age 5 years. Work with a further sample containing 100 children at risk for language delay showed highly significant impairments on answering exhaustively. Challenging indices of language development can be found in parallel even for languages as syntactically different as Mandarin and English.
Funding : Bethel Hearing and Speaking Training center, Dallas.