Hsiao Yaling, Dawson Nicola J, Banerji Nilanjana, Nation Kate
University of Oxford, UK.
Oxford University Press, UK.
J Child Lang. 2022 Mar 7:1-26. doi: 10.1017/S0305000921000957.
As written language contains more complex syntax than spoken language, exposure to written language provides opportunities for children to experience language input different from everyday speech. We investigated the distribution and nature of relative clauses in three large developmental corpora: one of child-directed speech (targeted at pre-schoolers) and two of text written for children - namely, picture books targeted at pre-schoolers for shared reading and children's own reading books. Relative clauses were more common in both types of book language. Within text, relative clause usage increased with intended age, and was more frequent in nonfiction than fiction. The types of relative clause structures in text co-occurred with specific lexical properties, such as noun animacy and pronoun use. Book language provides unique access to grammar not easily encountered in speech. This has implications for the distributional lexical-syntactic features and associated discourse functions that children experience and, from this, consequences for language development.
由于书面语言包含比口语更复杂的句法，接触书面语言为儿童提供了体验不同于日常口语的语言输入的机会。我们研究了三个大型发展语料库中关系从句的分布和性质：一个是针对学龄前儿童的儿童导向性言语语料库，另外两个是为儿童编写的文本语料库，即针对学龄前儿童进行共读的图画书语料库和儿童自己的阅读书籍语料库。关系从句在这两种书面语类型中更为常见。在文本中，关系从句的使用随着目标年龄的增长而增加，并且在非虚构类文本中比虚构类文本中更频繁。文本中关系从句结构的类型与特定的词汇属性共同出现，例如名词的有生性和代词的使用。书面语为儿童提供了在口语中不易遇到的独特语法学习途径。这对儿童所体验到的分布性词汇-句法特征及相关语篇功能具有影响，进而对语言发展产生影响。
