Children's knowledge ofwh-quantification in Mandarin Chinese

Abstract

ABSTRACTWh-words in Mandarin Chinese exhibit quantificational variability. Aside from a typical interrogative reading,wh-words can also have an existential indefinite reading or a universal reading. Which reading it is depends on the linguistic environments in which they occur. The present study investigates Mandarin-speaking children's sensitivity to the linguistic environments for the noninterrogative use ofwh-words: the existential reading and the universal reading. The results show that young children exhibited adultlike sensitivity to the licensing environments for the noninterrogative use ofwh-words. Given the difficulty that children may have in using the input data to learn the interpretation ofwh-words and the early emergence of this knowledge, we propose that the licensing mechanism for the noninterrogative use ofwh-words is innate.