This article investigates two distinct classes of intensifiers in Mandarin Chinese, ordinary intensifiers (Class I) and subjective intensifiers (Class II). Intensifiers from Class II, such as zhēn “really”, cannot be used in the following cases: (i) interrogatives, (ii) sentences containing epistemic modals, (iii) sentences with negation or as conditional antecedents, (iv) sentences containing attitude predicates, and (v) contexts lacking firsthand experience. This paper argues that evidentiality, as a conceptual framework concerning the source of knowledge, can account for these phenomena related to Class II intensifiers. Specifically, in this study, evidentiality constraints on both the subject and the manner of the information source. The subject must be the speaker, and the information must be acquired as firsthand experience.

This community service initiative was motivated by the rapid growth of Chinese investment in Lampung Province, which has generated new job opportunities in the financial services sector. However, this development has not been matched by the availability of human resources with basic Mandarin language skills. Responding to this need, a team of lecturers from the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Lampung, in collaboration with PT Maybank Sekuritas Indonesia, Lampung Branch, organized a Mandarin for Career training program for students and alumni of the Development Economics Department. The training was conducted through a one day in-person workshop followed by two weeks of online mentoring. The program covered theoretical foundations, practical conversation exercises, CV preparation, and mock job interviews in Mandarin. Evaluation was carried out using a pre-test, post-test, and participant reflections. The results show a substantial improvement in participants’ abilities, with the average score rising from 39 to 79. A total of 85% of participants were able to introduce themselves in Mandarin, and 70% could engage in simple workplace-related conversations. Beyond language competence, this activity also strengthened collaboration between the university and the industry while creating a talent pool of job-ready graduates. The training proved effective in enhancing graduates’ competitiveness and supporting regional economic resilience in an increasingly globalized era.

The Multidimensional Nature of Semantic Transparency in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective: Evidence From Human Intuitions, Computational Estimates, and Processing Data for Chinese Compounds.

ABSTRACT This study examines how Yi students utilise Chinese (Mandarin and Sichuan dialect), Yi, and English across both formal and informal contexts in two bilingual education models in Liangshan, China. Although policies stipulate the use of Yi language (Model One) or Chinese (Model Two) as the instructional language, comprehensive analyses, including observations, interviews, language maps, and linguistic landscape, reveal a strong convergence in language practices across both models. These methods allow the study to trace how convergence materialises across formal and informal practices and public semiotic environments. Yi literacy was generally taught for examination purposes rather than everyday communication. Outside the classroom, students spoke Yi with family and close peers, but they used Chinese in public places and for written expressions, including note-taking and social messaging. The findings highlight a policy-practice gap and suggest the need for pedagogical reforms that enhance the functional role of Yi scripts in students’ daily lives.

Digital transformation has accelerated the rise of live commerce as a major innovation within the global e-commerce ecosystem, with China emerging as a leading pioneer whose practices have increasingly shaped other markets, including Indonesia. This study investigates the diffusion and adaptation of the Chinese live commerce model through Shopee Live in Indonesia, examines the effects of live commerce stimuli on Generation Z consumers’ purchasing behaviour, and explores the structural implications for vocational Mandarin language competencies in cross-border e-commerce. Adopting a quantitative descriptive–explanatory design, the study employs the Stimulus–Organism–Response framework and the Elaboration Likelihood Model to explain consumer decision-making processes. Data were collected via an online questionnaire administered to 112 Indonesian Generation Z consumers who actively use Shopee Live and were analysed using descriptive and explanatory statistical methods. The findings demonstrate that live commerce stimuli—particularly price promotions, real-time interaction, and host persuasion—significantly influence purchase intention and impulsive buying behaviour, with persuasive effects operating predominantly through the peripheral route. Furthermore, the results reveal a strong interconnection between Shopee Live and cross-border supply chains dominated by Chinese suppliers. This indicates that the diffusion of the live commerce model extends beyond shaping digital consumption patterns to restructuring cross-border business interactions. Consequently, the study underscores the growing strategic importance of vocational Mandarin language competencies that are practical, industry-oriented, and culturally sensitive. It concludes that vocational Mandarin proficiency constitutes a critical component of human resource development in Indonesia’s e-commerce sector amid the intensification of cross-border digital economic integration.

ABSTRACT This article introduces the concept of a Globalized Acceptance to examine how language immersion education operates through school choice. Drawing on qualitative data from an elementary Mandarin immersion program, this study analyzes how a school markets a foreign language program that attracts middle-class families. Rather than prioritizing a language that reflects the existing student population, the school promotes Mandarin Chinese as a symbol of global opportunity. Language becomes a classed commodity that signals elite cultural capital rather than a practical communication method. This study contributes to our understanding of educational markets by showing how immersion programs may translate globalization into an educational asset that is unevenly distributed.

AIMS OF THE PAPERThe aim of this study is to examine the association between smart city development and residents’ qualityof life in Budapest. This includes evaluating urban consumers’ perceptions and attitudes towards existingsmart solutions in the city across various aspects of their life. METHODOLOGYThe research employed a trilingual questionnaire (English, Hungarian and Mandarin Chinese) to accommodateBudapest’s diverse population of resident consumers. The data collection yielded 453 valid responses.Distribution occurred through both electronic platforms (web-based interfaces, QR codes, DistrictForums, expatriate networks) and paper-based instruments, which were completed by interviewers in variousdistricts of the city. MOST IMPORTANT RESULTSRespondents generally have a positive image of Budapest, and they find the city relatively safe. Budapest’surban environment is rated quite positively, especially the city’s atmosphere. Consumers find public transportefficient, easy to use and easy to navigate. Smart transportation-related services (mobile apps, ticketing,electronic information boards) were rated highly. However, respondents are not so happy with theparking situation and overall traffic management. They are least happy with the quality and cost of housing,followed by healthcare and low salaries compared to the cost of living. Also, they do not see Budapest asa very clean or sustainable city. RECOMMENDATIONSIt is important to build on the city’s strengths (e.g., efficient transport system, cultural attractions, goodatmosphere) and to address apparent weaknesses (e.g., cleanliness, lack of parking). The city should bemade safer for certain groups of residents (e.g., women) and the number of local green spaces should beincreased for older residents who might find it harder to access central locations. Sustainability needs tobe communicated more prominently, and residents, especially those less confident (e.g., older residents),should be encouraged to use smart tools.

The current study investigates the comprehension of Mandarin Chinese's mei…shenme (not-what) construction among Korean-speaking learners, particularly their acquisition of the 'none' and 'insignificance' readings of this negative wh-pronoun construction. The 'insignificance' reading in Mandarin, which is analogous to the English word "hardly", represents a subtle and frequently used aspect of the language. However, this nuance is absent in Korean, which only conveys the 'none' reading and communicates a complete negation of the sentence. The 'insignificant' reading involves syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic interplay, posing a potential challenge for L2 (second language) learners. Adopting the same truth value judgment task from the L1 (first language) acquisition study by Huang and Crain (Lang Acquis 21(4):339-364, 2014), we found that Korean-speaking learners of Mandarin follow a developmental trajectory similar to L1 learners, acquiring the 'none' reading before the 'insignificance' reading. The observed acquisition of the 'insignificance' reading by advanced learners prompts a careful reconsideration of the Interface Hypothesis, which posits that linguistic properties involving external interface such as pragmatics are particular challenging for L2 acquisition. Overall, the study suggests that inherent linguistic structures are instrumental in initial learning stages, but the extent of exposure to naturalistic language use is also indispensable for the mastery of language subtleties.

This investigation focuses on the structural, semantic and aspectual properties of passive in Mandarin Chinese (MC) and European Portuguese (EP) from a descriptive perspective. The findings reveal systematic divergences between the two systems. MC passives can be overtly marked by bei or remain unmarked, relying on the semantic tendency and semantic role between patient and agent. While agent omission alone preserves the bei-passive construction, the simultaneous deletion of both the agent and the bei marker yields an unmarked passive with fundamentally different structural and semantic properties. In contrast, EP agent omission merely alternates between long and short forms of a unified structure. Aspectually, MC passives exhibit covert properties requiring inferential interpretation, demonstrating flexibility in combining with aspectual particles—a pattern absent in EP's morphologically-marked system. This contrast reflects a deeper asymmetry: MC passives are primarily lexically governed, while EP passives rely predominantly on morphological inflection. These divergent realization mechanisms can be traced to underlying typological differences—MC's topic-prominence and morphological minimality versus EP's subject-prominence and rich inflectional morphology. By examining how these typological properties specifically constrain passive constructions, this study contributes to understanding the interaction between morphological systems, lexical mechanisms, and passive realization across typologically distinct languages.

As AI-mediated writing becomes increasingly visible in literary and digital reading contexts, it is critical to understand how readers experience AI-involved narratives across languages. This study examined whether narrative prediction, emotional engagement, and perceived narrative voice differ between human-authored and AI-mediated short stories in two language cohorts: English and Mandarin Chinese. We constructed 12 tightly matched story pairs (6 per language), controlling for length, sentence count, readability, and baseline lexical properties. A large online sample was recruited (N = 652), with exclusions applied using pre-registered criteria, yielding a final analytic sample of N = 528 (English n = 264; Mandarin n = 264). Narrative prediction was assessed using a Cloze Probability Task. Across languages, AI-mediated texts showed lower cloze predictability than human-authored texts, with a significant main effect of Text Type (β = -0.076, p < .001) and a significant Text Type × Language interaction (β = -0.035, p = .009), reflecting a larger predictability penalty in English. Subjective outcomes showed robust main effects of Text Type for Narrative Engagement (β = -0.414, p < .001) and Emotional Intensity (β = -0.375, p < .001) without cross-linguistic interaction, indicating a consistent experiential reduction across cohorts. Narrative voice exhibited the strongest AI-related penalties across Authenticity, Stylistic Naturalness, and Perspectival Coherence (all p < .001), with a language-sensitive interaction for coherence (β = -0.105, p = .018). Moderation analyses revealed that AI familiarity attenuated subjective penalties for engagement, emotion, and voice authenticity/naturalness, but did not significantly moderate cloze predictability. An integrative effect-size synthesis and the Narrative Triad Divergence Index further demonstrated a larger overall AI-related divergence in English (NTDI = 1.03) than Mandarin (NTDI = 0.79). Collectively, these findings sug

Abstract There is little published research on school‐aged learners of Mandarin Chinese in anglophone contexts. This article explores English secondary school pupils' motivation for learning Chinese compared to European languages. The research questions were: (1) What is the strength and nature of pupils' self‐reported motivation for learning languages? (2) How does pupils' motivation for learning Chinese compare with their motivation for learning European languages? Focus groups were conducted with 43 pupils (aged 11–12) in their first year at five state‐funded secondary schools. In all languages, culture and a desire to connect with speakers were strong motivators; classroom experiences were also key, underlining teachers' central role. Motivation for Chinese was frequently linked to novelty, difference, challenge, and enjoyment of the character‐based writing system. The article highlights practical classroom implications, particularly the need for teachers to consider the motivational impact of pedagogical decisions relating to curriculum content, task design, and classroom organization.

This study explores the cultural experiences of teachers in the Department of Education's (DepEd) Special Program in Foreign Language (SPFL), focusing on their lived experiences, the challenges they face, and the strategies they use to develop culturally responsive learning experiences for their students. The study uses a hermeneutic-phenomenological methodology to shed light on the experiences of six (6) participants currently teaching Chinese (Mandarin), German (Deutsch), and Japanese (Nihongo) at two public high schools in Quezon City, Philippines. From the data collected through interviews emerge seven (7) themes: educator experience and development; cultural exposure; external support; classroom diversity and socio-cultural barriers; resource limitations; student-centered instructional practices; and cultural integration. Results show that prior teaching experience, immersion programs, and innovative tactics enable teachers to provide culturally responsive lessons. However, limited resources and support pose significant challenges. Recommendations include encouraging students to explore their interests and engage in cultural activities, urging parents to support language learning and cultural appreciation, and promoting continuous professional development and collaboration among teachers. School administrators are advised to strengthen support systems and create conducive learning environments. And for future researchers to expand the study to other contexts, include student perspectives, assess long-term effects, and include quantitative methodologies to enhance the understanding of cultural experiences within the program.

This study explores the impact of cultural integration on the Mandarin language learning experience, filling a crucial gap in current research that often overlooks the role of cultural elements in language acquisition. Specifically, it assesses how a Cultural Integration Program influences learners' language skills, cultural understanding, and motivation. An exploratory methodology was applied, involving a questionnaire distributed to 12 participants. Part A of the questionnaire contained 16 quantitative items focused on assessing language proficiency, cultural awareness, and motivational factors. At the same time, Part B included four open-ended questions that offered insights into participants' personal experiences within the program. The data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative approaches to understand measurable outcomes and nuanced personal reflections comprehensively. The findings suggest that cultural activities when embedded in language programs foster greater interest, improve communication skills, and enrich cultural understanding among learners. These insights underscore the value of integrating cultural elements into Mandarin language education, highlighting the potential benefits for learners in terms of both linguistic and intercultural competence. This research offers valuable implications for educators and policymakers aiming to enhance the effectiveness of language instruction by incorporating culturally responsive practices into curricula.

Abstract This paper examines the strategic deployment of humor by Mandarin Chinese speakers during first conversations as a way of sharing affect and establishing interpersonal connections. Through this detailed analysis of first conversations, three distinct humor practices emerge as particularly salient: teasing, animated performance, and conventionalized language play. These practices are manifested through distinctive vehicles to generate humor and establish relational connections. The findings reveal that humor practices play an important role that extends beyond mere amusement, particularly in the context of initial interactions. By deploying these practices, speakers of Mandarin Chinese create moments of shared affect that help them build relational connections with their unacquainted interlocutors. This research contributes to our understanding of the intricate relationship between humor, affect-sharing, and interpersonal connections, demonstrating how speakers of Mandarin Chinese index their affective stance in order to establish relational connections with their unacquainted counterparts.

ABSTRACT This study investigates the Mandarin language acquisition process among Cantonese multilingual learners, focusing on L3 Mandarin learners from Hong Kong. The primary aim is to explore changes in metaphonological awareness (MPhA) after 12 months of Mandarin learning. The study also includes L2 Mandarin learners from Guangdong Province for comparison. Both groups shared English and Mandarin as additional languages but acquired them in reversed order. Their Mandarin learning environment was also diverse (instruction vs. immersion). Participants completed Mandarin wordlist readings and MPhA protocols, with assessments conducted twice over the year. Retrospective and introspective protocols captured error patterns and strategic reflections. MPhA complexity was categorised into three levels. Hong Kong learners reported using L1 Cantonese and L2 English to support L3 Mandarin, while Guangdong learners relied primarily on L1 Cantonese. After one year, both groups showed improved pronunciation accuracy and increased high-level awareness, with Hong Kong learners demonstrating a notable shift from basic to complex MPhA reflections. Progressive and regressive CLI patterns were observed, including L1 Cantonese being influenced by Mandarin. Learners also adapted their pronunciation learning strategies, increasingly employing metacognitive and social approaches. This study enhances the theoretical understanding of third language pronunciation development and offers pedagogical insights for multilingual education.

Abstract Since China’s reform and opening-up in 1978, its popular music industry has experienced rapid development and emerged as a significant component of global contemporary pop music. This study conducts a systematic analysis of contemporary Chinese Mandarin pop lyrics (1978–2019) with digital methodologies. A stylometric measurement, the Busemann coefficient, was employed to demonstrate the lyrics’ high textual activity from both static and dynamic perspectives. This finding supports the lyrics’ stylistic essence as narratives. Besides, sentiment analysis of lyrics reveals an overall positive tone, though a significant watershed occurred around the year 2000, marking a divergence between the two periods. Furthermore, analyses with topic modeling demonstrate diversified topic distribution patterns across these periods, reflecting both the universality of popular culture and the distinctive Chinese characteristics shaped by cultural and temporal contexts.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the expressive vocabulary ability and sentence complexity in cochlear implanted children diagnosed with cochlear nerve aplasia (CN-A), and to analyze potential influencing factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 35 children diagnosed with CN-A by MRI, with a mean age of cochlear implantation of 22.1 (SD: 8.0) months. Twelve were bilaterally implanted (bilateral CI group), 13 were unilateral implanted with hearing aids on the contralateral ear (bimodal group), and the others were unilaterally implanted (unilateral CI group). After at least 36 months of device use following initial activation, the quantity of expressive vocabulary was assessed using the Early Vocabulary Inventory for Mandarin Chinese (EVI). The mean length of the three longest utterances (M3L) and the sentence complexity were assessed using the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventory for infants and toddlers. Auditory and speech perception outcomes were also evaluated, including the Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP), Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR), and a speech recognition test. Preoperative aided hearing threshold average (aided-PTA) and the diameter of the auditory nerve to the facial nerve ratio at the cerebellopontine angle (AN/FN ratio) in MRI were retrospectively analyzed. The effect of implantation age, cochlear usage duration, preoperative PTA, AN/FN ratio, and prosthetic configuration (unilateral CI/bilateral CIs/bimodal) on expressive vocabulary and grammatical abilities was analyzed. Results: The average number of expressive vocabularies was 273.7 (SD: 220.1), the mean M3L was 4.8 (SD: 1.4), and the average sentence complexity score was 27.3 (SD: 14.1) in children with CN-A. There were significant positive correlations between expressive vocabulary and M3L (r=0.59, P=0.001), as well as sentence complexity (r=0.91, P<0.001). The quantity of expressive vocabulary, M3L, and sentence complexity were significantly positively correlated with categories of auditory performance (CAP) and speech intelligibility rating (SIR) scores (P<0.01). There were no significant correlations between implantation age, duration with CI, and expressive vocabulary size, M3L and sentence complexity (P>0.05). Multi-linear regression analysis showed that the AN/FN ratio, per-operation aided-PTA and prosthetic configuration were significant predictors for the vocabulary size (P>0.05). Bimodal children had higher expressive vocabulary size than bilateral CIs and unilateral CI children, with significant differences between bimodal and unilateral CI children (P<0.01). Conclusions: The linguistic skills in children with CN-A are severely impaired. Vocabulary ability is significantly correlated with sentence construction and grammatical ability. The relative auditory nerve diameter on MRI, per-operation hearing level and prosthetic configuration are important factors in predicting the vocabulary development of children with CN-A.

Mandarin Chinese has two different types of tone sandhi (TS) rules. One is known as the Tone 3 Sandhi (T3S) rule, a general rule that applies to the T3 syllable, whereby a T3-T3 sequence is realized as T2-T3. The other is associated with specific words and is often referred to as morpheme-specific TS rules, whereby the underlying T4 surfaces as T2 when followed by another T4. The extant literature has yielded mixed results on children's acquisition of the general T3S rule, and less is known about their acquisition of morpheme-specific TS rules. To fill the gap, the present study explored 4- to 6-year-old Mandarin-speaking children's understanding of the general T3S rule associated with hen (meaning 'very') and the morpheme-specific TS rule associated with bu (meaning 'not'), using a tone sandhi predictive processing task. The results showed that the children exhibited a developmental trajectory in their comprehension of the two TS rules, with the 6-year-olds performing significantly better than the 4- and 5-year-olds. To explore how core cognitive abilities like Working Memory (WM, measured by the n-back task) contributed to the observed developmental trajectory, we also examined how the children's WM capacity was associated with their performance in the tone sandhi predictive processing task. The findings showed that the children's scores in the 1-back task reliably predicted their performance in the processing of the morpheme-specific TS rule, highlighting the interaction between the children's knowledge of TS rules and their WM capacity during their development.

ABSTRACT Successful communication is not only about understanding what interlocutors say but also how they say it. It has been well established that speakers in a variety of languages utilize prosodic prominence (e.g., higher pitch, longer duration, and stronger intensity) to highlight important information, and listeners can effectively use these cues to achieve successful comprehension. Although increasing evidence on the role of prosody in language processing has been found in nontonal languages (e.g., Germanic languages) in recent years, less is known about tonal languages, despite differences in the phonetic implementation of prosodic focus between languages, such as pitch accenting in English versus pitch range expansion in Mandarin. To address this gap, the present study examines whether and how prosodic prominence influences memory for focused information and its contextual alternatives in Mandarin, using a delayed recall task with 64 participants. The results indicate that in Mandarin, prosodic prominence significantly facilitated the recall of focused words but had limited effects on the recall of focus alternatives. This study sheds light on how Mandarin listeners use prosodic cues to facilitate their native language comprehension and expands our knowledge of the role of prosody in tonal languages in general.

According to Levelt's language production model, to name an object, speakers must first conceptualize and lexicalize the object before it can be named. Conceptualization is conducted through the semantic network, with concepts activating lexical items at the lemma level, i.e., lexicalization. So far, research has focused on the roles of semantic categories (i.e., semantic category interference) and single semantic features (i.e., semantic feature interference) but less so on the number of overlapping features. To investigate the role of the number of overlapping features in language production, we conducted a picture-word interference study in Mandarin Chinese, varying the semantic category and shape congruency whilst controlling for classifier congruency. We also recorded behavioural and electrophysiological responses. We observed a main effect of semantic category that was stronger than a main effect of shape (i.e., a semantic feature). That is, the reduction in naming accuracies, the increase in naming latencies, and the increase in ERP amplitudes between 275 - 575ms post-stimulus onset (N400 effect) for congruent vs. incongruent conditions were larger for semantic category than for shape. In addition, we found an interaction effect between semantic category and the semantic feature 'shape' regarding naming accuracies and also at the electrophysiological level. We conclude that, with increasing feature overlap between word pairs, there may be more spreading of activation between such pairs in word production.