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Optional elements and variant structures in the productions of bei2 ‘to give’ dative constructions in Cantonese-speaking adults and three-year-old children*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

ANITA M.-Y. WONG ,
DORCAS C.-C. CHOW ,
CATHERINE MCBRIDE-CHENG  and
STEPHANIE F. STOKES
ANITA M.-Y. WONG*
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
DORCAS C.-C. CHOW
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
CATHERINE MCBRIDE-CHENG
Affiliation:
Chinese University of Hong Kong
STEPHANIE F. STOKES
Affiliation:
Newcastle University
*
Address for correspondence: Anita M.-Y. Wong, Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Hong Kong, 5th Floor, Prince Philip Dental Hospital, 34 Hospital Road, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong-SAR-China. Email: amywong@hkusua.hku.hk
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Abstract

To express object transfer, Cantonese-speakers use a ‘ditransitive’ ([V–R–T] or [V–T–R] where V=Verb, T=Theme, R=Recipient), or a more complex prepositional/serial-verb (P/SV) construction. Clausal elements in Cantonese datives can be optional (resulting in ‘full’ versus ‘non-full’ forms) or appear in variant orders (full non-canonical and full canonical). We report on usage of dative constructions with the word bei2 ‘to give’ in 86 parents and 53 three-year-old children during conversations. The parents used more P/SV than ditransitive bei2-datives, and vice versa for the children. Both groups showed a similar usage pattern of optional elements and variant structures in their ditransitive and P/SV bei2-datives. The roles of multiple construction types, optional elements and variant structures in children's learning of bei2-dative constructions are described.

Type
Brief Research Report
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 175 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

[*]

This research is based on the second author's graduating thesis for a Bachelor of Science Degree in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Hong Kong, completed under the supervision of the first author. We acknowledge the support of a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Project reference 4257/03H) awarded to the third author for collection and transcription of the language samples. We thank the children and their parents for their participation, Ka-wai Leung and our research assistants for their transcription, and Elaine Yung for a reliability check.

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