Abstract
This study investigates whether Cantonese -speaking preschoolers are sensitive to the semantic differences between universal quantification and perfectivity under the differentiating context of negation . In Cantonese , the negation of a perfective predicate in the form of [NEG V] denotes the non-existence or non-realization of an event (“none” reading), while the negation of a predicate suffixed by the universal quantifier saai3 in the form of [NEG V saai3] denotes the partial realization of an event (“partial” reading). Using the two-choice picture/video selection task, we tested 34 children aged between 3;6 and 4;6 (mean age = 3;10) and 72 adults in a between-subject design on sentences of the form [NEG V] (negation of perfectivity) or [NEG V saai3] (negation of universal quantification), paired with a none reading (non-existence or non-realization or an event) and a partial reading (partial realization of an event). Our findings reveal that children are able to differentiate universal quantification and perfectivity in the negation context. While children can understand saai3 quantifying an object under the scope of negation, a blocking effect is observed in subject quantification with the negator intervening between saai3 and its associated nominal.
In this paper, Cantonese is transcribed using The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanization Scheme (Jyutping) (http://www.lshk.org/). The digits after the romanization indicate the tone category, which is only provided for morphemes under discussion. Abbreviations: CL = classifier; CLPL = plural fuzzy classifier di1; COG.OBJ = cognate object; DEM = demonstrative; DUR = durative aspect marker; PERF = perfective aspect marker; N = noun; NEG = negation; SFP = sentence final particle; V = verb. The following convention is used to indicate the age of the child: yy;mm;dd or yy;mm, in which the numbers corresponding to ‘yy’, ‘mm’ and ‘dd’ indicate year, month and day respectively.
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Notes
- 1.
A similar phenomenon has been observed in Mandarin: the preverbal existential verb yǒu ‘have’ and the postverbal perfective aspect marker le are mutually exclusive, leading to the analysis of yǒu as an allomorph of the perfective aspect marker (see Wang 1965).
- 2.
A reviewer asked whether a path reading can be applied to the predicate heoi saai3 Bakging [go saai3 Beijing] in (19b) to mean ‘S/he went all the way to Beijing’. We note the contrast between (19b) and the sentence (i) below is a sharp one.
(i)
Keoi
tiu
saai3
lok
seoi.
s/he
jump
all
into
water
‘S/he jumped all the way into (the) water.’
(19b) cannot receive a path reading as achievement verbs do not admit duration, as shown in the contrast in meaning between (ii) and (iii).
(ii)
Keoi
heoi
zo2
saam
go
zungtau.
s/he
go
PERF
three
CL
hour
‘S/he has left for three hours.’
(iii)
Keoi
tiu
zo2
saam
go
zungtau.
s/he
jump
PERF
three
CL
hour
‘S/he jumped for three hours.’
- 3.
In the elicitation production task, children were asked to explain why the protagonist in each of the stories was disappointed upon realizing that his/her possession had been taken away or consumed at the end of that story.
- 4.
A few of the utterances produced by children in the task aiming to elicit saai3 contained zo2 instead of saai3, which were often accompanied by a numeral phrase object, with the cardinality of the numeral matched with the cardinality of the object denotation depicted in the test scenarios.
- 5.
In the elicitation production task, children were asked to explain why the protagonist in each of the stories was penalized, whose actions did not cover all the items of a set or a quantity as required by the task.
- 6.
It should be noted that the co-occurrence of the universal quantifier suffix saai3 with the durative aspectual marker zyu6 in (42) is an exception to the general mutual exclusivity constraint observed in Sect. 2.2.
- 7.
In general, the default interpretation of a Cantonese classifier is singular, except for the plural fuzzy classifier di1.
- 8.
The current experiment examines children’s readiness to accept the “not-all ” reading. See Lei (2017) for experimental studies on Cantonese -speaking children’s scope interpretation of various universal quantifiers interacting with negation .
- 9.
No statistically significant effect on domain of quantification [object quantification vs. subject quantification ] was found in the children (Related-Samples Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, p = 0.623). A significant effect was observed on age group [children vs. adults] (Independent-Samples Mann-Whitney U Test, p < 0.000).
- 10.
A participant’s selection of the “none” reading is considered to be consistent if s/he selected it on at least 3 of the 4 test trials.
- 11.
Significant effect was found on age group (Independent-Samples Mann-Whitney U Test, p < 0.000). No effect on domain of quantification [object quantification versus subject quantification ] was observed in children (Related-Samples Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, p = 0.073). Significant effect on predicate type [stative vs. eventive] for subject quantification trials was found in children (Related-Samples Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, p = 0.04).
- 12.
A participant’s selection of the “partial” reading is considered to be consistent if s/he selected it on at least three of the four test trials.
- 13.
Near-marginal significant effect on domain of quantification [object-quantification vs. subject-quantification ] was found in children (Chi-square test of independence, p = 0.251).
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We wish to thank the participants of the Workshop on Linguistics and Cognitive Aspects of Quantification , the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions and critical comments. Special thanks are due to members of the Language Acquisition Lab at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) for their support on the experimental work. We would also like to thank the principal, teachers, parents and children at the Po Leung Kuk Mrs Tam Wah Ching Kindergarten for their support on our child language experiments, and to CUHK students who took part in the control experiments. The support of a GRF grant “The interpretation of numeral phrases by Chinese-speaking children” (CUHK#447008) to the second author as Principal Investigator is hereby gratefully acknowledged.
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Lei, M.Ky., Lee, T.Ht. (2018). Differentiating Universal Quantification from Perfectivity: Cantonese-Speaking Children’s Command of the Affixal Quantifier saai3. In: É. Kiss, K., Zétényi, T. (eds) Linguistic and Cognitive Aspects of Quantification. Studies in Theoretical Psycholinguistics, vol 47. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91566-1_4
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