Topic and Topic-Comment Structures in First Language Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese

The prevalence of topic-comment structures is one of the most distinctive features of Mandarin Chinese. It has been shown that young children in the early stages of syntax acquisition have the ability to distinguish between the notions of subject and topic; however, the production frequency and the types of topiccomment structures produced by young children in spontaneous speech have yet to be determined. This study examines the production of topic-comment structures in Chinese children between ages 2;2 and 6;0. The result shows that children begin producing topic-comment structures as early as 2;2 and reach adult like production by age 4;0. However, the production of topic-comment structures is infrequent in child speech and this is partly attributed to children’s preference of canonical word order schemas.