AUTHOR=Ji Yue , Sheng Li , Zheng Li 

TITLE=Acquisition of non-canonical word orders in Mandarin Chinese

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1006148

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1006148

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>To better understand Mandarin-speaking children’s acquisition of non-canonical word orders, we tested comprehension and production of Mandarin non-canonical active <italic>ba</italic>-construction and passive <italic>bei</italic>-construction, in comparison with canonical active SVO sentences among 180 children between three and 6 years of age. Our results showed that children had more difficulties with <italic>bei</italic>-construction compared to SVO sentences in both comprehension and production, but early problems of <italic>ba</italic>-construction only lied in production. We discussed these patterns in connection with two accounts of language acquisition which attribute language development to the maturation of grammar or to the exposure to the input, respectively.</p>