互动视角下普通话儿童Wh-论元问句的习得模式

This study investigates the acquisition patterns of Mandarin subject and object wh-argument questions from both questioning and answering perspectives, using spontaneous speech data from eight Mandarin-speaking children aged 1 to 3 years. The results of our data analysis reveal two key findings. First, the acquisition order is mainly determined by the identifiability of wh-words, but also modulated by their syntactic positions and animacy. Specifically, children tend to acquire object wh-questions before subject wh-questions, with what (“shenme”) and who (“shui”) questions emerging first among the former and among the latter, respectively. Second, children demonstrate similar acquisition patterns in questioning and answering, although the ability of the latter develops earlier and occurs more frequently. Grounded in the interaction theory of language development, this study offers a systematic analysis and an in-depth exploration of the early acquisition of Mandarin wh-argument questions by integrating multiple linguistic modules (e.g., syntax, semantics, and context) and input features (e.g., frequency, prototypicality, and complexity), broadening the scope of research in this field and suggesting new perspectives and methodologies for future studies.