The development of interrogative forms and functions in early childhood Cantonese

Hui LI, Shek Kam TSE, Jessie Ming Sin WONG, Eileen Chin Mei WONG, Shing On LEUNG

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9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study investigated question acquisition in Cantonese-speaking young children with a focus on the development of interrogative forms and functions. Data from a child Cantonese corpus (492 children aged 36, 48 and 60 months) were analysed. The main results were that: (1) all the interrogative forms and functions were produced by the three age groups and no age difference was found; (2) significant gender differences in favour of females were found; and (3) a significant form-function preference was obtained, with wh- and multiple questions being primarily used to seek information, and yes/no and rising tone/echo questions being largely used to request action. Copyright © 2013 The Author(s).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)168-181
JournalFirst Language
Volume33
Issue number2
Early online dateMar 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2013

Citation

Li, H., Tse, S. K., Wong, J. M. S., Wong, E. C. M., & Leung, S. O. (2013). The development of interrogative forms and functions in early childhood Cantonese. First Language, 33(2), 168-181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0142723713479422

Keywords

  • Cantonese early childhood
  • Question acquisition

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