Children's acquisition of recursive possessives in Mandarin

Abstract

This study investigates the developmental stages in the acquisition of two-level possessive recursive structures by Mandarin-speaking children aged 3 to 6. Using the 'answering a question while seeing a picture' task, it was found that children begin to accurately understand two-level possessive recursions at around six years old, with an accuracy rate nearing that of adults. Besides, the research highlights a gradual developmental trajectory in language acquisition. The results indicate a gradual, protracted development of recursive possession in Mandarin, aligning with maturation theory. The findings suggest that while the computational capacity for recursion is innate, its acquisition timeline is modulated by language-specific morphological and syntactic factors.