This dissertation, "Acquisition of Cantonese Verbs in Ostensive and Non-ostensive Contexts in Three and Four Years Old Children" by Li-ying, Lorinda, Chen, 陳立穎, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. DOI: 10.5353/th_b3195852 Subjects: Cantonese dialects - Study and teaching (Early childhood) Cantonese dialects - Verb Cantonese dialects - Acquisition Cantonese dialects - Study and teaching (Early childhood) - China - Hong Kong Preschool children - China - Hong Kong - Language Language acquisition Preschool children - Language
This dissertation, "A Study of Generic Noun Phrases in Child Cantonese" by Ka-sinn, Kitty, Szeto, 司徒嘉善, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: This study investigated how Cantonese-speaking children use and comprehend generic noun phrases. Previous studies revealed that generic noun phrases were found in the speech of English-speaking children at age two. In terms of understanding of the meaning of generic noun phrases, experimental results also revealed that children speaking different languages showed sensitivity to the meaning of a generic noun phrase as different from quantified noun phrases which involved "all" and "some." However, the development of generic noun phrases was not identical in children speaking different languages. Cantonese offers an interesting case for examining the development of generic noun phrases as Cantonese and Mandarin use the same form (i.e., bare noun phrases) as generic noun phrases yet Cantonese also employs a unique form of using a classifier phrase in the form of di1-NPs as a generic noun phrase which is not found in Mandarin. This dissertation reported findings of the production and comprehension of generic noun phrases by Cantonese-speaking children by using both longitudinal data and experimental data. Longitudinal data from three children between two and three years of age were examined. Adult speech data were also analyzed in order to obtain a baseline for measuring the children's use of generic noun phrases. An experimental study was conducted to test Cantonese-speaking children's understanding of the intermediate meaning of generic noun phrases. The experimental study included 24 Cantonese-speaking adults and 72 Cantonese-speaking children in three age groups (three-, four-, and five-year-olds). The task used was a series of yes/no questions which involved three property types (broad-scope, narrow-scope, irrelevant) and four linguistic form conditions ("all," "some," bare-NP generic, di1-NP generic). The responses to the narrow-scope items highlight the distinction between generic noun phrases and quantified noun phrases in Cantonese-speaking children as the responses vary as a function of the linguistic form condition. Results from the longitudinal study showed that: (1) Cantonese-speaking children at age two already produced generic noun phrases in their spontaneous speech; (2) Almost all of the generic noun phrases produced by Cantonese-speaking children were bare noun phrases. The use of di1-NP as generic noun phrases was highly restrained; (3) The domain-specificity effect was not apparent in the noun phrases used by Cantonese-speaking children. Results from the experimental study showed that: (1) Cantonese-speaking children treated the two forms of generic noun phrases (i.e., bare NPs and di1-NP as similar in meaning; (2) Cantonese-speaking children showed early distinctions between the meaning of generics and the meaning of "all"; (3) However, Cantonese-speaking at age five have not yet achieved adults proficiency in differentiating the meaning of generics as intermediate between the meaning of "all" and the meaning of "some." The results were discussed with reference to the proposal that generic meanings are the default interpretations for children. Generics are learned by noticing an absence of cues specifying particular reference. Subjects: Children - Language Cantonese dialects - Noun phrase
This dissertation, "The Emergence of Serial Verb Constructions in Child Cantonese" by So-hing, Sandra, Fung, 馮素卿, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: This study examines the emergence and development of the Cantonese serial verb construction (SVC) in children from 1;03 to 4;06 by investigating the naturalistic data from two longitudinal corpora. This study presents a descriptive account of the emergence and development of SVCs in early child Cantonese, seeks to explain the developmental facts from a constructionist usage-based perspective, and compares the development of SVCs in Cantonese-English bilinguals with that in Cantonese monolinguals. It is found that children start to produce SVCs spontaneously at an early age of 1;10 and that the overall frequency of occurrence is low during the developmental period studied. The early emergence of SVCs is attributed to children's preference for iconic structures. Four surface forms are identified and shown to emerge with a consistent order: two-verb contiguous (1;10-11) contiguous (2;02) complexities are suggested to be the possible factors that influence the order. The earlier emergence of contiguous forms than non-contiguous forms is explained by the hypothesis that cross-linguistically unmarked structures tend to be acquired earlier than the marked ones (O'Grady 2000). Such a generalization is compatible with constructionist approaches in suggesting cross-linguistic cognitive functional preferences for language processing. Children tend to use certain component verbs that express eight main semantic notions. The study interprets children's SVCs as concrete instantiations of eight sub-constructions, which are subsumed by a more abstract high level SVC schema. It is observed that sub-constructions develop asynchronously, as the developmental paths of the four more frequently used SVCs (directional, dative, purpose and resultative SVCs) are more advanced than the four less often produced SVCs (instrumental, benefactive, comitative and locative SVCs). Developmental paths of the former are shown to be consistent with Tomasello's (2003) usage-based account of language development: from concrete expressions, to pivot schemas, then to item-based constructions. However, this study does not have enough data to suggest the emergence of an abstract schema for the high level SVC. It is found that children imitate adults' previous SVCs and repeat their own spontaneous productions frequently. These highlight the roles of the ambient language and linguistic use to children's language development. The overall error rates of SVCs are found to be low. The reasons proposed for error production, that are, adult input, generalization from item-based constructions and complexity of target constructions, are considered as evidence to support the constructionist usage-based approach. This study shows that Cantonese-dominant bilinguals resemble Cantonese monolinguals in developing SVCs. Language dominance is invoked to account for the developmental similarities observed. Only a few code-mixed instances are recorded, suggesting limited English influence on Cantonese SVCs. It is argued that SVCs are not a vulnerable doma
This large-format book is perfect for introducing new learners and children to their first words in spoken Cantonese. Encourage your child to be bilingual by introducing Cantonese words at an early age, through colourful illustrations and photos that make the vocabulary fun and easy to learn. Over 400 words are written in traditional Chinese, accompanied by the Jyutping pronunciation and English translation. You can scan the QR codes at the back of the book to hear the words spoken by a native speaker, and play the audio whilst you are reading along to help with pronunciation. Topics include: Colours Shapes Numbers to 100 and beyond Seasons Months Days of the week Time Weather Nature Solar system Parts of the body Feelings Relatives and family tree Animals Insects Ocean life Vehicles Sea & air transport Fruit Vegetables Food Clothes
My First Everyday Words in Cantonese & English is unique in its focus on colloquial Cantonese, not formal written Chinese. This book introduces Cantonese language and culture to preschool children, and is ideal for families or caregivers who may not be fully fluent in spoken Cantonese or written Chinese. Starting with "Good Morning!," this picture book contains the conversational questions, phrases and words needed to talk through a day in the life of a toddler. Each phrase is written in traditional Chinese characters and color-coded to the phonetic pronunciation and English translation. A special section for dim sum, a Cantonese cuisine and tradition of small, bite-sized plates, is also included.
