A Case Study of the Acquisition of Mandarin Classifiers

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the acquisition data of a Mandarin-speaking child Bao-Bao (2;2.7) to study his acquisition of Mandarin classifiers, which are obligatory when a demonstrative or a numeral occurs. I argue that despite the poor input from the caregiver, the child is aware of the classifier projection and the selectional syntactic relation within a Mandarin DP from an early age, which is consistent with the Strong Continuity Hypothesis (Lust 1999). I then offer arguments with respect to processing restrictions and syntactic parameter-setting to explain why the child omits and misuses classifiers. A phonological account will also be examined.