The development of using function word “zài” to learn novel verbs in young Mandarin speakers

Abstract

The present research examined whether Mandarin‐speaking children could use function words to learn novel verbs and recognize verbs in a new sentential context. In Experiment 1, 3‐ to 6‐year‐old children were taught two novel verbs supported by the verb marker “zài.” The 5‐ and 6‐year‐old children successfully used the function word “zài” to learn novel verbs, but the 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds failed to interpret the novel words as verbs. In Experiment 2 and 3, the children had to recognize the newly learned verbs in new sentences containing a different function word (a different verb‐biased marker “le” or a non‐verb‐biased marker “shì”). Results showed that the 5‐year‐old children could recognize the newly learned verbs with another verb‐biased marker “le,” but only the 6‐year‐old children could recognize the newly learned verbs with the non‐verb‐biased marker “shì.” The study verified that Mandarin‐speaking children could use the function word “zài” to determine a novel word as a verb and revealed that such an ability appeared between the ages of 4 and 5 years. In addition, the ability to extend a newly learned verb across different morphosyntactic markers is developed in 5‐ to 6‐year‐olds.