Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks
Published on: September 5, 2019
The input to verb learning in Mandarin Chinese: a role for syntactic bootstrapping
Joanne N Lee1, Letitia R Naigles
1Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-1020, USA. joanne.lee@uconn.edu
Abstract:
The authors investigated the role of syntax in verb learning in Mandarin Chinese, which allows pervasive ellipsis of noun arguments. Two questions were investigated using the Beijing corpus on CHILDES: (a) Does the input to young children manifest syntactic-semantic correspondences as needed for acquiring verb meanings? (b) Are verbs presented in multiple frames? Over 6,000 child-directed utterances were parsed. Analyses revealed that transitive verbs, motion verbs, and internal/communication verbs were distinguished syntactically; moreover, the 60 target verbs were used in multiple sentence frames. These findings support a role for syntactic bootstrapping in Mandarin verb learning.
Related Concept Videos
Language Development
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
Components of Language
Purposive Learning
Language and Cognition
Bootstrapping
Introduction to Learning
In contrast to learned behaviors, unlearned behaviors such as crying, sexual...

