Acquisition of Recursive Possessives and Recursive Locatives in Mandarin

TL;DR

This study investigates how Mandarin-speaking children acquire recursive possessives and locatives, revealing developmental stages and the influence of structural complexity on language learning from ages 3 to 7.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the age-related acquisition patterns of recursive structures in Mandarin, highlighting the impact of structural diversity and cognitive factors.

Findings

Children do not master two-level recursion until age 6

Asymmetry exists in acquiring possessives versus locatives

Structural complexity significantly affects acquisition

Abstract

As recursion has been underlying any linguistic work for the last 60 years, the acquisition of recursive structures by children during language learning has become a focal point of inquiry. This study delves into the developmental trajectory of Mandarin-speaking children's acquisition of recursive possessives and locatives, assessing the impact of structural diversity on language acquisition. The research contrasts the comprehension of two-level recursive structures among children aged 3 to 7 years, employing answering question while seeing a picture task to elicit responses. The findings indicate that children do not attain adult-like proficiency in two-level recursion until the age of 6, and there exists a notable asymmetry in the acquisition of recursive possessives versus locatives. These results underscore the primacy of structural complexity and cognitive factors in the acquisition process, enhancing our comprehension of the cognitive foundations of language development and the pivotal role of recursion in child language acquisition.