Cover not available

In:Studies in Chinese and Japanese Language Acquisition: In honor of Stephen Crain
Edited by Mineharu Nakayama, Yi-ching Su and Aijun Huang
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 60] 2017
► pp. 65–83

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Chapter 3
Logophoric ziji in Mandarin child language

 | National Tsing Hua University
Published online: 24 August 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.60.04su
Abstract
Research on reflexivization in the past two decades has in general converged on a mixed approach, which acknowledges both syntactic conditions of anaphor binding and logophoric considerations (e.g., Reinhart & Reuland 1993; Pollard & Xue 2001; Huang & Liu 2001). However, these analyses differ in where to draw the dividing line between the two functions of the Mandarin reflexive ziji. Following the widely accepted generalization that children’s mastery of the discourse or pragmatic related constraints is observed long after that of the syntactic constraints, this study conducts two experiments to investigate Mandarin-speaking children’s and adults’ logophoric interpretations of sentences with ziji, using a Truth Value Judgment Task, and compares the patterns with their anaphoric interpretations of sentences with ziji. The results show that Mandarin-acquiring preschool children around age 5–6 still have not mastered the interpretations for sentences with logophoric ziji, even though there is only one sentence-internal antecedent. The findings provide clear empirical support for the claim that logophoric binding modulated by discourse/ pragmatic principles indeed takes a longer time for children to acquire than syntactically governed anaphoric binding.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Experiments
    • 2.1Experiment 1
      • 2.1.1Participants
      • 2.1.2Procedure
      • 2.1.3Materials
      • 2.1.4Results
      • 2.1.5Discussion
    • 2.2Experiment 2
      • 2.2.1Participants
      • 2.2.2Procedure
      • 2.2.3Materials
      • 2.2.4Results
      • 2.2.5Discussion
  • 3.General discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (34)
References
Avrutin, S. & Cunningham, J. 1997. Children and reflexivity. In Proceedings of the 21st Boston University Conference on Language Development, E. Hughes, M. Hughes & A. Greenhill1 (eds), 3–23. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Battistella, E. 1989. Chinese reflexivization: A movement to INFL approach. Linguistics 27: 987–1012. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, H.-Y. 2009. Logophoricity and ziji. In Proceedings of the 21st North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-21), Vol. 2, Y. Xiao (ed), 464–481. Smithfield RI: Bryand University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, P. 1992. The reflexive Ziji in Chinese: Functional vs. formalist approaches. In Research on Chinese in Hong Kong, T. T.-H. Lee (ed), 1–36. Hong Kong: The Linguistics Society of Hong Kong. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chien, Y.-C. & Wexler, K. 1987. A comparison between Chinese-speaking and English-speaking children’s acquisition of reflexives and pronouns. Paper presented in the 12th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1990. Children’s knowledge of locality conditions in binding as evidence for the modularity of syntax and pragmatics. Language Acquisition 1: 225–295. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chien, Y.-C., Wexler, K. & Chang, H.-W. 1993. Children’s development of long-distance binding in Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 2: 229–259. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clements, G. N. 1975. The logophoric pronoun in Ewe: Its role in discourse. Journal of West African Languages 2: 141–177.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cole, P., Hermon, G. & Huang, C.-T. J. 2001. Long-Distance Reflexives [Syntax and Semantics 33]. San Diego CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cole, P., Hermon, G. & Lee, C.L. 2001. Grammatical and discourse conditions on long distance reflexives in two Chinese dialects. In Long-Distance Reflexives [Syntax and Semantics 33], P. Cole, G. Hermon & C.-T. J. Huang (eds), 1–46. San Diego CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cole, P., Hermon, G. & Sung, L.-M. 1990. Principles and parameters of long-distance reflexives. Linguistic Inquiry 21: 1–22.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crain, S. & McKee, C. 1985. The acquisition of structural restrictions on anaphora. NELS15: 94–110. Amherst MA: GSLA.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crain, S. & Thornton, R. 1998. Investigations in Universal Grammar: A Guide to Experiments on the Acquisition of Syntax and Semantics. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hagège, C. 1974. Les pronouns logophoriques. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris 69: 287–310.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hestvik, A. & Philip, W. 2001. Syntactic vs. logophoric binding: Evidence from Norwegian child language. In Long-Distance Reflexives [Syntax and Semantics 33], P. Cole, G. Hermon & C.-T. J. Huang (eds), 119–139. San Diego CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T. J. 1983. A note on binding theory. Linguistic Inquiry 14: 554–561.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T. J. & Liu, C.-S. L. 2001. Logophoricity, attitudes, and ziji at the interface. In Long-Distance Reflexives [Syntax and Semantics 33], P. Cole, G. Hermon & C.-T. J. Huang (eds), 141–195. San Diego CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, Y. 1997. Interpreting long-distance reflexives: A Neo-Gricean pragmatic approach. Paper presented at the Workshop on Long-Distance Reflexives, Cornell University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kazanina, N. & Phillips, C. 2001. Coreference in child Russian: Distinguishing syntactic and discourse constraints. In Proceedings of the 25th Boston University Conference on Language Development, Vol. 1, A. H.-J. Do, L. Dominguez & A. Johansen (eds), 413–424. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lidz, J. & Musolino, J. 2002. Children’s command of quantification. Cognition 84(2): 113–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Manzini, M.R. & Wexler, K. 1987. Parameters, binding theory, and learnability. Linguistic Inquiry 18: 413–444.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McKee, C. 1992. A comparison of pronouns and anaphors in Italian and English acquisition. Language Acquisition 2: 21–54. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Musolino, J. & Lidz, J. 2006. Why children aren’t universally successful with quantification. Linguistics 44(4): 817–852. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pollard, C. & Xue, P. 2001. Syntactic and nonsyntactic constraints on long-distance reflexives. In Long-Distance Reflexives [Syntax and Semantics 33], P. Cole, G. Hermon & C.-T. J. Huang (eds), 317–342. San Diego CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reinhart, T. & Reuland, E. 1993. Reflexivity. Linguistic Inquiry 24: 657–720.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sells, P. 1987. Aspects of logophoricity. Linguistic Inquiry 18: 445–479.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Su, Y.-C. 2004. The development of long-distance binding for Chinese ziji revisited. Chinese Journal of Psychology 46(3): 249–257.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2006. Word order effect in children’s garden path of relative clauses. Concentric 32(2): 33–57.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2008. Structure and context effects in scope ambiguity resolution. Language and Linguistics 9(3): 585–627.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2015. The development of structural and pragmatic restrictions on anaphora in child Mandarin. Poster presented in Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition in North America, the University of Maryland, College Park.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tang, C.-C. J. 1989. Chinese reflexives. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 7: 93–121. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, Y. & Pan, H. H. 2012. Thought de se, first person indexicals and Chinese reflexive ziji. In Proceedings of the 26th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation, 418–427. Bali, Indonesia.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2014. A note on the interpretation of non-de se attitude report. Language 90(3): 746–754. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2015. Empathy and Chinese long distance reflexive ziji − remarks on Giorgi (2006, 2007). Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 33(1): 307–322. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Su, Yi-Ching, Antonella Sorace, Meng-Jen Chang, Makiko Hirakawa, Yuki Hirose, Chiu-Wen Kuo, Jo-Ying Lee, Keiko Mochizuki, Mineharu Nakayama, Jung-Ku Park & Joonho Shin
2025. Acquisition of Chinese Reflexive Ziji by Learners of Typologically Different L1s. In Handbook of Chinese Language Learning and Technology, ► pp. 223 ff. DOI logo
Xie, Yuan, Peng Zhou, Sergey Avrutin & Peter Coopmans
2025. Development of Referential Dependency in Preschool Mandarin-Speaking Children. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 54:2 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue