Cover not available
Part of
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Vietnamese Linguistics
Edited by Nigel Duffield, Trang Phan and Tue Trinh
[Studies in Language Companion Series 211] 2019
► pp. 215–240

Chapter 10
Vietnamese children’s interpretation of definite noun phrases

| Michigan State University, USA
| Michigan State University, USA
| Michigan State University, USA
Most work on the acquisition of definiteness examines languages with definite determiners and grammaticalised number, and finds slower acquisition of definiteness compared to number. We replicate an act-out task from Munn et al. (2006) testing comprehension of definites in Vietnamese – a language with neither of these characteristics. In contrast to the results from English and Spanish children, Vietnamese children are found to make few definiteness errors, instead struggling with number, casting doubt on a universal difficulty with definiteness. We argue that this difference stems from the way in which children integrate information from number and definiteness. Given a high level of task difficulty, children acquiring languages with definite determiners and grammatical number, such as English and Spanish, sacrifice definiteness in favour of number, while those acquiring Vietnamese prioritise definiteness, resulting in number errors.
Keywords: definite noun phrases, number, definiteness, plurality, pluralisers, classifiers, Vietnamese, classifier languages, first language acquisition, act out task
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The acquisition problem
  • 3.Acquisition background
  • 4.Vietnamese noun phrases
  • 5.Research questions
  • 6.Hypotheses and predictions
  • 7.Experiment 1
    • 7.1Subjects
    • 7.2Materials
    • 7.3Procedure
    • 7.4Results
      • 7.4.1Control sentences
      • 7.4.2Experimental sentences
      • 7.4.3Results: Number
      • 7.4.4Results: Definiteness
    • 7.5Discussion
  • 8.Experiment 2
    • 8.1Subjects
    • 8.2Methods
    • 8.3Results
    • 8.4Discussion
  • 9.General discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 9 October 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.211.10le
References (36)
References
Barner, David, Thalwitz, Dora, Wood, Justin, Yang, Shu-Ju, & Carey, Susan. 2007. On the relation between the acquisition of singular-plural morpho-syntax and the conceptual distinction between one and more than one. Developmental Science 10(3): 365–373. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, Roger. 1973. A First Language: The Early Stages. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bùi, Mạnh Hùng. 2000. Về một số đặc trưng ngữ nghĩa – ngữ pháp của những và các (On the semantic and syntactic features of những and các). Ngôn ngữ (Language) 3: 16–26.Google Scholar
Cao, Xuân Hạo. 1998. Tiếng Việt. Mấy Vấn đề Ngữ Âm, Ngữ Pháp, Ngữ Nghĩa (Vietnamese: Some Issues in Phonetics, Grammar, Semantics). Đà Nẵng: Nhà xuất bản Giáo dục.Google Scholar
Chierchia, Gennaro. 1998. Reference to kinds across languages. Natural Language Semantics 6: 339–405. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Cat, Cécile. 2011. Explaining children’s over-use of definites in partitive contexts. First Language 32: 137–150. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Drozd, Kenneth F. 2001. Children’s weak interpretation of universally quantified sentences. In Conceptual Development and Language Acquisition, Melissa Bowerman & Stephen Levinson (eds), 340–376. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fenson, Larry, Dale, Philip S., Reznick, J. Stephen, Bates, Elizabeth, Thal, Donna J., Pethick, Stephen J., Tomasello, Michael, Mervis, Carolyn B., & Stiles, Joan. 1994. Variability in early communicative development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 59(5): 1–185. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gandour, Jack, Petty, Soranee Holasuit, Dardarananda, Rochana, Dechongkit, Sumalee, & Mukngoen, Sunee. 1984. The acquisition of numeral classifiers in Thai. Linguistics 22(4): 455–480. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Karmiloff-Smith, Annette. 1979. A Functional Approach to Child Language. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Kim, Chae-Eun, O’Grady, William, & Deen, Kamil. 2012. The extrinsic plural marker in Korean: Five studies. Ms.Google Scholar
Kim, Jaeshil. 2008. The parameterization of plural markings in classifier languages. Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics 30: 159–173.Google Scholar
Kim, Mikyung. 2011. The Acquisition of Korean Pluralizer –tul. MA thesis, Michigan State University.Google Scholar
Kouider, Sid, Halberda, Justin, Wood, Justin, & Carey, Susan. 2006. Acquisition of English number marking: The singular-plural distinction. Language Learning and Development 2: 1–25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lê, Ni La & Schmitt, Cristina. 2016. Plurality in classifier languages: A view from Vietnamese pluralizers. In Proceedings of the Forty-second Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society (BLS) 42, Emily Clem, Virginia Dawson, Alice Shen, Amalia Horan Skilton, Geoff Bacon, Andrew Cheng & Erik Hans Maier (eds), 153–174. Berkeley CA: BLS.Google Scholar
Lê, Ni-La. 2008. Về loại từ trong tiếng Việt (On Vietnamese Classifiers). Ho Chi Minh City: University of Education.Google Scholar
Lê, Ni-La, Forsythe, Hannah, & Schmitt, Cristina. 2018. Interactions between number and definiteness: Vietnamese children’s comprehension of definite noun phrases. In Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Anne B. Bertolini & Maxwell J. Kaplan (eds), 427–440. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Li, Peggy, Ogura, Tamiko, Barner, David, Yang, Shu-Ju, & Carey, Susan. 2009. Does the conceptual distinction between singular and plural sets depend on language? Developmental Psychology 45(6): 1644–1653. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maratsos, Michael. 1976. The Use of Definite and Indefinite Reference in Young Children. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Mervis, Carolyn B. & Johnson, Kathy E. 1991. Acquisition of the plural morpheme: A case study. Developmental Psychology 27(2): 222–235. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Modyanova, Nadya & Wexler, Kenneth. 2007. Semantic and pragmatic language development: Children know ‘;that’ better. In Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America (GALANA), Alyona Belikova, Luisa Meroni & Mari Umeda (eds), 297–308. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Munn, Alan, Miller, Karen & Schmitt, Cristina. 2006. Maximality and plurality in children’s interpretation of definites. In Proceedings of the 30th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, David Bamman, Tatiana Magnitskaia & Colleen Zaller (eds), 377–387. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Munn, Alan, Zhang, Xiaofei, & Schmitt, Cristina. 2009. Acquisition of plurality in a language without plurality. In Merging Features: Computation, Interpretation, and Acquisition, José Brucart, Anna Gavarró & Jaume Solà (eds), 310–327. Oxford: OUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nakano, Nao, Park, Hye-Sun, & Schmitt, Cristina. 2010. A comparative study of the acquisition of plural morphemes in Japanese and Korean. In Proceedings of the 11th Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics, Tokyo, Japan, Yukio Otsu (ed.). Tokyo: Hitsuji Shobol.Google Scholar
Nguyễn, Tài Cẩn. 1975. Từ loại danh từ trong tiếng Việt hiện đại (The Word Class of Nouns in Modern Vietnamese). Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học Xã hội.Google Scholar
Nguyễn, Thị Ly Kha. 2001. Danh từ khối trong tiếng Việt hiện đại (so sánh với tiếng Hán hiện đại) (Mass Nouns in Modern Vietnamese (In Comparison to Modern Chinese)). Ho Chi Minh City: University of Social Sciences and Humanities.Google Scholar
Nguyen, Tuong Hung. 2004. The Structure of the Vietnamese Noun Phrase. PhD dissertation, Boston University.Google Scholar
Park, Hye-Sun. 2010. The Acquisition of Plural Morphemes in Korean. MA thesis, Michigan State University.Google Scholar
Schaeffer, Jeannette & Matthewson, Lisa. 2005. Grammar and pragmatics in the acquisition of article systems. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 23(1): 53–101. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Lawrence C. 1965. A Vietnamese Reference Grammar. Previously published as Mon-Khmer Studies XIII–XIV [1965] edn. Honolulu HI: University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
Tran, Jennie. 2011. The Acquisition of Vietnamese Classifiers. PhD dissertation, University of Hawai’i at Manoa.Google Scholar
Trinh, Tue. 2011. Nominal reference in two classifier languages. Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 15: 629–644.Google Scholar
Tse, Shek Kam, Li, Hui, & Leung, Shing On. 2007. The acquisition of Cantonese classifiers by preschool children in Hong Kong. Journal of Child Language 34(3): 495–517. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Uchida, Nobuko & Imai, Mutsumi. 1996. A study on the acquisition of numeral classifiers among young children: The development of human-animal categories and generation of the rule of classifier applying. Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology 44: 126–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wexler, Kenneth. 2011. Cues don’t explain learning: maximal trouble in the determiner system. In The Processing and Acquisition of Reference, Edward Gibson & Neal J. Pearlmutter (eds), 15–42. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Xiaofei. 2006. Chinese -men and associative plural. Presented at the International Conference on East Asian Linguistics, University of Toronto, Canada.