Relative clauses in English-Mandarin bilingual children
Language transfer and development in Singapore
The role of cross-linguistic influence in bilingual children’s development remains a matter of debate. Some researchers have proposed that simultaneous bilingual learners develop the linguistic systems of two languages in the same way as matched monolingual children do. Other researchers have argued that bilingual children show different developmental pathways. This study investigates cross-linguistic influence in the acquisition of relative clauses by English-Mandarin bilingual children in Singapore. The elicitation task included narration and interview tasks. Thirty-six primary school students aged 6 to 11 years completed the task in both English and Mandarin. The results reveal that the number of relative clauses increased with age in both languages. Participants had a preference for subject relatives over object relatives. The most frequent error type in Mandarin involves postnominal relative clauses, which have not been reported in monolingual children in the literature and thus can be treated as evidence of transfer from English. The findings of this study provide evidence for cross-linguistic influence in bilingual children’s speech.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Literature review
- Typological features of relative causes in English, Chinese and Singapore Colloquial English (SCE)
- Acquisition of relative clauses in monolingual children
- Method
- Participants
- Instruments and tools
- Data analysis
- Results
- Language background information
- Total number of relative clauses in English and Mandarin
- Postnominal RCs in Mandarin
- Prenominal relative clauses in English
- Headless relatives in Mandarin
- Omission and non-standard use of relativizers in SCE
- Summary of results
- Discussion and conclusion
-
References
References (22)
References
Alsagoff, L., and Ho, C. L. 1998. “The Relative Clause in Colloquial Singapore English.” World Englishes, 17(2): 127–138. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chang-Smith, M. 2010. “Developmental Pathways for First Language Acquisition of Mandarin Nominal Expressions: Comparing Monolingual with Simultaneous Mandarin – English Bilingual Children.” International Journal of Bilingualism, 14(1): 11–35. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cheng, S. 1995. The Acquisition of Relative Clauses in Chinese. Unpublished MA Thesis., National Taiwan Normal University.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chiu, B. 1996. The Nature of Relative Clauses in Chinese-speaking Children. NSC research report, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
De Houwer, A. 1990. The Acquisition of Two Languages from Birth: A Case Study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Department of Statistics. 2001. Census of Population 2000 Statistical Release 2: Education, Language and Religion. Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Department of Statistics. 2011. Census of Population 2010 Statistical Release 1: Demographic Characteristics, Education, Language and Religion. Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Deterding, D. 2007. Singapore English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Diessel, H., and Tomasello, M. 2000. “The Development of Relative Clauses in Spontaneous Child Speech.” Cognitive Linguistics, 11(1/2): 131–152. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Diessel, H., and Tomasello, M. 2005. “A New Look at the Acquisition of Relative Clauses.” Language, 81(4): 882–906. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dixon, L. Q. 2005. “Bilingual Education Policy in Singapore: An Analysis of its Sociohistorical Roots and Current Academic Outcomes.” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8(1): 25–47. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Döpke, S. 1997. “Is the Simultaneous Acquisition of Two Languages in Early Childhood Equal to Acquiring Each of the Two Languages Individually.” Proceedings of the 28th annual child language research forum, 95–112. The Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford, US.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dryer, M. S. 2013. Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Relative Clause and Noun. Retrieved February 26, 2015, from [URL]
Flynn, S., Foley, C., and Vinnitskaya, I. 2004. “The Cumulative-enhancement Model for Language Acquisition: Comparing Adults’ and Children's Patterns of Development in First, Second and Third language Acquisition of Relative Clauses.” International Journal of Multilingualism, 1(1): 3–16. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Genesee, F. 2001. “Bilingual First Language Acquisition: Exploring the Limits of the Language Faculty.” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 211: 153–168. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hsu, C., Hermon, G., and Zukowski, A. 2009. “Young Children’s Production of Head-Final Relative Clauses: Elicited Production Data from Chinese Children.” Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 18(4): 323–360. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Li, C., and Thompson, S. 1989. Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. US: University of California Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
McKee, C., McDaniel, D., and Snedeker, J. 1998. “Relatives Children Say.” Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 27(5): 573–596. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ministry of Education, Singapore. 2004a. Refinements to Mother Tongue Language Policy, Singapore Ministry of Education Press Release.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Xu, H. 2007. Aspects of Chaoshan Grammar: A Synchronic Description of the Jieyang Dialect. Monograph Series Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 221.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yip, V., and Matthews, S. 2007. The Bilingual Child: Early Development and Language Contact. New York: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Kong, Ming Sum, Mary Carr & Sin Wang Chong
2023.
Cross-Linguistic Influence in Hong Kong ESL Learners’ Acquisition of Conjunctions.
Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences 16:4
► pp. 515 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Du, Hui-Ming Lois, Chun-Yin Doris Chen & Fang-Yen Hsieh
2022.
Factors affecting English-speaking learners’ acquisition of Chinese relative clauses with demonstrative classifier phrases.
Chinese as a Second Language Research 11:1
► pp. 1 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
NEL, Norma Margaret & Soezin KROG
2021.
Factors Influencing the Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a Second Additional Language Focusing on Phonetics.
Participatory Educational Research 8:1
► pp. 1 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 august 2024. 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.