Predictors of cross-linguistic influence in school-age child and adolescent heritage speakers: The case of wh -fronting in Mandarin

IF 2.1 2区文学 Q1 LINGUISTICS

Journal of Child Language Pub Date : 2026-04-16 DOI:10.1017/s0305000926100609

Vera Yunxiao Xia, Evangelia Daskalaki, Hannah Bou-Lai Lam, Johanne Paradis

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This study examines cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in the production of wh -questions by child heritage speakers of Mandarin aged 6;9 to 16;2 years in Canada. The form of CLI addressed is wh -fronting in Mandarin object-questions (where fronting is ungrammatical) and when -questions (where fronting is dispreferred). Our goals were, first, to determine whether the children front more frequently relative to their mothers; and second, to determine the impact of structural overlap between languages (operationalized by question type), relative language dominance, and age on the rate of children’s fronting. Results show that the children front more frequently, and in more contexts, than do their mothers, indicating CLI. Structural overlap increased the likelihood of fronting for only some children, whereas greater dominance in English increased the likelihood of fronting for the group. Age did not correlate with changes in rates of fronting, indicating that CLI may sometimes reflect permanent divergence from the parental grammar.

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学龄儿童和青少年传统说话者跨语言影响的预测因素：以普通话中“wh -front”为例

本研究考察了6岁儿童传统普通话使用者对wh -疑问句产生的跨语言影响。9至16；在加拿大待了两年。在汉语宾语疑问句中使用wh -前置（不符合语法）和when -前置（不喜欢使用前置）。我们的目标是，首先，确定孩子们是否比他们的母亲更频繁地露面；第二，确定语言之间的结构重叠（按问题类型操作）、相对语言优势和年龄对儿童正面率的影响。结果显示，孩子们比他们的母亲更频繁，在更多的情况下，表明CLI。结构上的重叠只增加了部分孩子面对问题的可能性，而英语优势的增加则增加了整个群体面对问题的可能性。年龄与前置率的变化无关，这表明CLI有时可能反映了与父母语法的永久差异。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Child Language Multiple-

CiteScore

4.70

自引率

4.50%

发文量

142

期刊介绍： A key publication in the field, Journal of Child Language publishes articles on all aspects of the scientific study of language behaviour in children, the principles which underlie it, and the theories which may account for it. The international range of authors and breadth of coverage allow the journal to forge links between many different areas of research including psychology, linguistics, cognitive science and anthropology. This interdisciplinary approach spans a wide range of interests: phonology, phonetics, morphology, syntax, vocabulary, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, or any other recognised facet of language study.