Decoding Chinese Frequency Adverbs in Language Socialization: The Role of Typicality and Contextual Cues
Yu-cheng Elisa Cheng and Chun-yin Doris Chen
Abstract
In this study, we investigate children’s interpretation of Chinese frequency adverbs during various points in their language socialization. We conducted the study in two phases. In Phase 1, we obtained interpretations of frequency adverbs using an identification task and an ordering task. In Phase 2, we examined children’s acceptance of various event types using an acceptability task.
A total of eighty children were recruited and divided into four groups according to their grades. Twenty adults were also recruited as a control group. The results indicated that interpreting “typical” frequency adverbs such as zongshi ‘always’ and congbu ‘never’ was more challenging than interpreting “atypical” adverbs. In addition, we found that contextual clues had a negative effect on the subjects’ interpretation of frequency adverbs. Child subjects generally gave lower acceptability ratings to tasks with context provided than to context-free tasks.
Keywords: Frequency adverbs, context, language socialization, Taiwan Mandarin, ethnography, linguistic anthropology