Different Behaviours of the Chinese Plural Marker under Different Contact Scenarios

Zetao Xu; Victor Junnan Pan

doi:10.65961/crcl-2026-0023

PDF(946 KB)

Current Research in Chinese Linguistics ›› 2026, Vol. 105 ›› Issue (2) : 463-487. DOI: 10.65961/crcl-2026-0023

Special Topic: International Symposium on Silk Road Linguistics

Different Behaviours of the Chinese Plural Marker under Different Contact Scenarios

Zetao Xu, Victor Junnan Pan

Author information +

History +

Abstract

From the perspective of language contact, the current research adopts corpus method to examine whether Chinese plural marking of Chinese-English bilingual children is influenced by English. The results show that unlike Mandarin speakers from Gan-Qing areas and Mandarin learners, the Chinese plural marking in bilingual children is almost not influenced by English. This is because at the age of 1-4, children have not yet acquired the rule of adding plural affixes to nouns to indicate plurality, but instead have acquire words as whole lexical items. The current study also compares the expression of plurality in Ganqing Mandarin, Jin Chinese, Southwestern Mandarin, Mandarin as a second language, and Chinese in Chinese-English bilingual children, further revealing the micro-level changes that have occurred in Chinese spoken in Ganqing area during its contact with Altaic languages.

Key words

plural marker / language contact / language acquisition / Chinese dialect / corpus

Cite this article

EndNote

Ris (Procite)

Bibtex

Download Citations

Zetao Xu, Victor Junnan Pan. Different Behaviours of the Chinese Plural Marker under Different Contact Scenarios[J]. Current Research in Chinese Linguistics. 2026, 105(2): 463-487 https://doi.org/10.65961/crcl-2026-0023

References

丁加勇、沈禕. 2014.湖南鳳凰話后置複數指示詞——兼論方言中複數標記“些”的來源.中國語文5.418-423, 480.Jiayong Ding & Yi Shen. 2014. Hunan Fenghuanghua houzhi fushu zhishici: Jianlun fangyan zhong fushu biaoji “xie” de laiyuan.Zhongguo Yuwen 5. 418-423, 480.
胡光斌. 2006.遵義方言名詞的語法特點及功能.遵義師範學院學報8(1).21-27.Guangbin Hu. 2006. Zunyi fangyan mingci de yufa tedian ji gongneng.Zunyi Shifan Xueyuan Xuebao 8(1). 21-27.
孔德然、趙楊. 2021.日語、英語母語者漢語複數標記“們”的習得研究.世界漢語教學 35(4).562-576.Deran Kong & Yang Zhao. 2021. Riyu, Yingyu muyuzhe Hanyu fushu biaoji “men” de xide yanjiu.Shijie Hanyu Jiaoxue 35(4). 562-576.
蘭州大學中文系臨夏方言調查研究組、甘肅省臨夏州文聯.1996.臨夏方言.蘭州:蘭州大學出版社.Lanzhou Daxue Zhongwenxi Linxia Fangyan Diaocha Yanjiuzu & Gansusheng Linxiazhou Wenlian. 1996. Linxia Fangyan. Lanzhou: Lanzhou Daxue Chubanshe.
李克郁. 1987.青海漢語中的某些阿爾泰語言成分.民族語文3.27-31.Keyu Li. 1987. Qinghai Hanyu zhong de mouxie A’ertai yuyan chengfen.Minzu Yuwen 3. 27-31.
李圃. 2017.北方方言複數詞尾“們”與維吾爾語複數詞尾-lar/lεr用法對比——北方漢語阿爾泰化又一例證.語言與翻譯2.43-48, 69.Pu Li. 2017. Beifang fangyan fushu ciwei “men” yu Weiwu’eryu fushu ciwei -lar/lεr yongfa duibi: Beifang Hanyu A’ertaihua you yi lizheng.Yuyan yu Fanyi 2. 43-48, 69.
李旭平. 2022.再論量詞和複數標記不共現原則——從甘青漢語說起.當代語言學24(6).826-843.Xuping Li. 2022. Zailun liangci he fushu biaoji bu gongxian yuanze: Cong Gan-Qing Hanyu shuoqi.Dangdai yuyanxue 24(6). 826-843.
李豔惠、石毓智. 2000.漢語量詞系統的建立與複數標記“們”的發展.當代語言學2(1).27-36, 61-62.Yanhui Li & Yuzhi Shi. 2000. Hanyu liangci xitong de jianli yu fushu biaoji “men” de fazhan. Dangdai Yuyanxue 2(1). 27-36, 61-62.
呂叔湘. 1944.中國文法要略.上海:商務印書館.Shuxiang Lü. 1944. Zhongguo Wenfa Yaolüe. Shanghai: Shangwu Yinshuguan.
敏春芳、李小潔. 2023.語言接觸視角下甘肅臨夏話“們”的複雜用法.語言研究43(2).48-55.Chunfang Min & Xiaojie Li. 2023. Yuyan jiechu shijiao xia Gansu Linxiahua “men” de fuza yongfa.Yuyan Yanjiu 43(2). 48-55.
史秀菊、王海立. 2024.晉語“們”類成分探源.山西大學學報(哲學社會科學版)47(4).2-11.Xiuju Shi & Haili Wang. 2024. Jinyu “men” lei chengfen tanyuan. Shanxi Daxue Xuebao, zhexue shehui kexue ban 47(4). 2-11.
孫錫信. 1990.元代指物名詞後加“們(每)”的由來.中國語文4.302-304.Xixin Sun. 1990. Yuandai zhiwumingci hou jia “men(mei)” de youlai.Zhongguo Yuwen 4. 302-304.
太田辰夫. 1958.中國語歷史文法,蔣紹愚、徐昌華(譯).北京:北京大學出版社,2003.Tatsuo Ota. 1958. Zhongguoyu Lishi Wenfa [Chūgokugo rekishi bunpō], trans. by Shaoyu Jiang & Changhua Xu. Beijing: Beijingdaxue Chubanshe.
汪化雲. 2011a.方言指代詞與複數標記.中國語文3.250-252.Huayun Wang. 2011a. Fangyan zhidaici yu fushu biaoji.Zhongguo Yuwen 3. 250-252.
汪化雲. 2011b.省略構成的人稱代詞複數標記.方言1.20-25.Huayun Wang. 2011b. Shenglüe goucheng de rencheng daici fushu biaoji.Fangyan 1. 20-25.
王浩銘、張和友. 2022.從語言習得看“名詞+們”的使用規律與限制.澳門語言學刊60(2).40-48.Haoming Wang & Heyou Zhang. 2022. Cong yuyan xide kan “mingci + men” de shiyong guilü yu xianzhi.Aomen Yuyan Xuekan 60(2). 40-48.
韋志剛. 2024.山西高平方言的複數標記“□”[·təu].方言1.88-96.Zhigang Wei. 2024. Shanxi Gaoping fangyan de fushu biaoji [·təu].Fangyan 1. 88-96.
吳偉軍. 2023.貴州安順方言複數標記“些”及“的些”的詞彙化.中國方言學報(第十期).207-217.Weijun Wu. 2023. Guizhou Anshun fangyan fushu biaoji “xie” ji “de xie” de cihuihua. Zhongguo Fangyan Xuebao, dishi qi. 207-217.
武旭. 2019.山西汾陽方言中的“們”.長安學刊4.44-45.Xu Wu. 2019. Shanxi Fenyang fangyan zhong de “men”.Changan xuekan 4. 44-45.
肖黎明. 1990.貴州省沿河話的“些”字.方言3.223.Liming Xiao. 1990. Guizhousheng Yanhehua de “xie” zi.Fangyan 3. 223.
謝曉安、華侃、張淑敏. 1996.甘肅臨夏漢語方言語法中的安多藏語現象.中國語文4.273-280.Xiao’an Xie, Kan Hua & Shumin Zhang. 1996. Gansu Linxia Hanyu fangyan yufa zhong de Anduo Zangyu xianxiang.Zhongguo Yuwen 4. 273-280.
邢向東. 2018.從幾種語法現象透視晉語對元白話的繼承和發展.語言暨語言学19(3).473-499. Cong jizhong yufa xianxiang toushi Jinyu dui Yuanbaihua de jicheng he fazhan.Yuyan ji Yuyanxue 19(3). 473-499.
徐丹. 2011.漢語河州話及周邊地區非指人名詞的複數標記“們”.民族語文6.9-23.Dan Xu. 2011. Hanyu Hezhouhua ji zhoubian diqu fei zhirenmingci de fushu biaoji “men”.Minzu Yuwen 6. 9-23.
徐丹、貝羅貝. 2018.中國境內甘肅青海一帶的語言區域.漢語學報3.2-15, 95.Dan Xu & Alain Peyraube. 2018. Zhongguo jingnei Gansu Qinghai yidai de yuyan quyu.Hanyu Xuebao 3. 2-15, 95.
楊炎華. 2015.複數標記“們”和集合標記“們”.語言教學與研究6.78-88.Yanhua Yang. 2015. Fushu biaoji “men” he jihe biaoji “men”.Yuyan Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu 6. 78-88.
楊炎華、劉道海. 2023.耀州方言複數表達形式.語言研究43(1).84-90.Yanhua Yang & Daohai Liu. 2023. Yaozhou fangyan fushu biaoda xingshi.Yuyan Yanjiu 43(1). 84-90.
楊炎華、桑紫宏. 2023.再從“們”字談漢語語法的特點.當代語言學25(3).342-361.Yanhua Yang & Zihong Sang. 2023. Zaicong “men” zi tan Hanyu yufa de tedian.Dangdai yuyanxue 25(3). 342-361.
楊永龍. 2014.青海甘溝話複數標記“們[mu]”的類型特徵及歷史比較.歷史語言學研究(第八輯).239-254.Yonglong Yang. 2014. Qinaghai Gangouhua fushu biaoji [mu] de leixing tezheng yu lishi bijiao. Lishi Yuyanxue Yanjiu, diba ji. 239-254.
張莉、周兢.2009.漢語兒童平均語句長度發展研究.見周兢(編),漢語兒童語言發展研究:國際兒童語料庫研究方法的應用與發展,40-58.北京:教育科學出版社.Li Zhang & Jing Zhou. 2009. Hanyu ertong pingjun yuju changdu fazhan yanjiu. In Jing Zhou (ed.), Hanyu Ertong Yuyan Fazhan Yanjiu: Guoji Ertong Yuliaoku Yanjiu Fangfa de Yingyong yu Fazhan, 40-58. Beijing: Jiaoyu Kexue Chubanshe.
張芹. 2020.山西屯留方言代詞研究.上海:華東師範大學碩士學位論文.Qin Zhang. 2020. Shanxi Tunliu fangyan daici yanjiu. Shanghai: Huadong Shifan Daxue shuoshi xuewei lunwen.
張慶文、鄧思穎. 2014.共性與差異:粵方言名詞短語研究.語言暨語言學15(5).733-760.Qingwen Zhang & Sze-Wing Tang. 2014. Gongxing yu chayi: Yuefangyan mingci duanyu yanjiu.Yuyan ji Yuyanxue 15(5). 733-760.
張曉靜、陳澤平. 2015.河北武邑方言複數標記“們”.中國語文2.153-157.Xiaojing Zhang & Zeping Chen. 2015. Hebei Wuyi fangyan fushu biaoji “men”.Zhongguo Yuwen 2. 153-157.
Baayen, R. Harald & Antoinette Renouf.1996. Chronicling the times: Productive lexical innovations in an English newspaper.Language 72(1). 69-96.
Bardel, Camilla & Ylva Falk.2007. The role of the second language in third language acquisition: The case of Germanic syntax.Second Language Research 23(4). 459-484.
Bardel, Camilla & Ylva Falk.2012. The L2 status factor and the declarative/procedural distinction. In Jennifer Cabrelli, Suzanne Flynn & Jason Rothman (eds.), Third language acquisition in adulthood, 61-78. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Borer, Hagit.2005. Structuring sense, vol. 1, In name only. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chao, Yuen Ren.1968. A grammar of spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Cheng, Lisa L.-S. & Rint Sybesma.1999. Bare and not-so-bare nouns and the structure of NP.Linguistic Inquiry 30(4). 509-542.
Cheng, Lisa L.-S. & Rint Sybesma. 2005. Classifiers in four varieties of Chinese. In Guglielmo Cinque & Richard S. Kayne (eds.), The Oxford handbook of comparative syntax, 259-292. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.
De Houwer, Annick.1998. By way of introduction: Methods in studies of bilingual first language acquisition.The International Journal of Bilingualism 2. 249-263.
Deng, Xiangjun & Virginia Yip.2018. A multimedia corpus of child Mandarin: The Tong corpus.Journal of Chinese Linguistics 46(1). 69-92.
Deuchar, Margaret & Rachel Muntz.2003. Factors accounting for code-mixing in an early developing bilingual. In Natascha Müller (ed.), (In)vulnerable domains in multilingualism, 161-190. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Döpke, Susanne.1998. Competing language structures: The acquisition of verb placement by bilingual German-English children.Journal of Child Language 25(3). 555-584.
Fernández Fuertes, Raquel & Juana M. Liceras.2010. Copula omission in the English developing grammar of English/Spanish bilingual children.International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 13(5). 525-551.
Genesee, Fred, Elena Nicoladis & Johanne Paradis.1995. Language differentiation in early bilingual development.Journal of Child Language 22. 611-631.
Heine, Bernd & Tania Kuteva.2003. On contact-induced grammaticalization.Studies in Language 27(3). 529-572.
Hsieh, Miao-Ling.2008. The internal structure of noun phrases in Chinese. Taipei: Crane Publishing.
Huang, Cheng-Teh James, Yen-hui Audrey Li & Yafei Li. 2009. The syntax of Chinese. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hulk, Aafke & Natascha Müller.2000. Bilingual first language acquisition at the interface between syntax and pragmatics.Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 3(3). 227-244.
Iljic, Robert.1994. Quantification in Mandarin Chinese: Two markers of plurality.Linguistics 32. 91-116.
Jia, Gisela.2003. The acquisition of the English plural morpheme by native Mandarin Chinese-speaking children.Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 46(6). 1297-1311.
Jiang, Li Julie.2017. Mandarin associative plural -men and NPs with -men. International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 4(2). 191-256.
Koopman, Hilda.1993. The internal and external distribution of pronominal DPs. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Los Angeles.
Lardiere, Donna.2009. Some thoughts on the contrastive analysis of features in second language acquisition.Second Language Research 25(2). 173-227.
Lee, Thomas HT, Colleen H. Wong, Samuel Leung, Patricia Man, Alice Cheung, Kitty Szeto & Cathy SP Wong.1996. The development of grammatical competence in Cantonese-speaking children. Report of RGC earmarked grant 1991-94.
Li, Xuping & Cuiping Cheng.2025. Two types of plurality marker in Gan-Qing Mandarin: With reference to the Sanches-Greenberg-Slobin generalization. In Redouane Djamouri, Christine Lamarre & Julie Lefort (eds.), Language contact in Northern China, 283-311. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004750081 (accessed 12 Jan 2026).
Li, Yen-hui Audrey.1997. Structures and interpretations of nominal expressions. Unpublished manuscript, University of Southern California.
Li, Yen-hui Audrey.1999. Plurality in a classifier language.Journal of East Asian Linguistics 8(1). 75-99.
MacWhinney, Brian. 2000. The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk, vol. 2, The database. New York: Psychology Press.
Mai, Ziyin & Virginia Yip.(under review).Trilingual first language acquisition: Leo Corpus.
Mai, Ziyin, Ming Shang, Jing Liu, Shen Yan, Stephen Matthews & Virginia Yip.2024. Acquiring Chinese in US, Hong Kong and Beijing: Three new corpora and three verbal structures. Paper presented at the XVIth International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL-2024), Charles University, 15-19 July.
Maslen, Robert J. C., Anna L. Theakston, Elena V. M. Lieven & Michael Tomasello.2004. A dense corpus study of past tense and plural overregularization in English.Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 47(6). 1319-1333.
Mervis, Carolyn B. & Kathy E. Johnson.1991. Acquisition of the plural morpheme: A case study.Developmental Psychology 27(2). 222-235.
Norman, Jerry.1988. Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Prawatmuang, Woramon.2018. Effects of positive evidence, indirect negative evidence and form-function transparency on second language acquisition: Evidence from L2 Chinese and L2 Thai. Cambridge: University of Cambridge dissertation.
Ritter, Elizabeth.1991. Two functional categories in noun phrases: Evidence from Modern Hebrew. In Susan Rothstein (ed.), Perspectives on phrase structure: Heads and Licensing, 37-62. New York: Academic Press.
Romaine, Suzanne.1995. Bilingualism, 2nd edn. Oxford: Blackwell.
Rothman, Jason.2011. L3 syntactic transfer selectivity and typological determinacy: The typological primacy model.Second Language Research 27(1). 107-127.
Rothman, Jason.2015. Linguistic and cognitive motivations for the Typological Primacy Model (TPM) of third language (L3) transfer: Timing of acquisition and proficiency considered.Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 18(2). 179-190.
Sandman, Erika.2012. Bonan grammatical features in Wutun Mandarin. Per Urales ad Orientem: Iter polyphonicum multilingue, 375-387. Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura.
Schuler, Kathryn D., Charles Yang & Elissa L. Newport.2016. Testing the Tolerance Principle: Children form productive rules when it is more computationally efficient. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/utgds (accessed 12 Jan 2026).
Serratrice, Ludovica, Antonella Sorace, Francesca Filiaci & Michela Baldo.2009. Bilingual children’s sensitivity to specificity and genericity: Evidence from metalinguistic awareness.Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 12(2). 239-257.
Simon, Camille & Camille Noûs.2021. The grammaticalisation of plurality in the languages of Amdo. Simon, Camille, and Camille Noûs.Himalayan Linguistics 20(3). 49-81.
Tang, Chih-chen Jane.1990. Chinese phrase structure and the extended X’-theory. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University dissertation.
Wang, Jue & Bonnie D. Schwartz. 2022. Detecting definiteness: On the L2 acquisition of the Mandarin plural marker -men. In Ying Gong & Felix Kpogo (eds.), Proceedings of the 46th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, vol. 2, 837-850. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Wiltschko, Martina.2008. The syntax of non-inflectional plural marking.Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 26(3). 639-694.
Wiltschko, Martina.2014. The universal structure of categories: Towards a formal typology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Yang, Charles.2005. On productivity. In Pierre Pica, Johan Rooryck & Jeroen van Craenenbroeck (eds.), Linguistic Variation Yearbook 5, 265-302. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Yang, Charles.2016. The price of linguistic productivity: How children learn to break the rules of language. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Yip, Virginia & Stephen Matthews.2000. Syntactic transfer in a Cantonese-English bilingual child.Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 3(3). 193-208.
Yip, Virginia & Stephen Matthews.2006. Assessing language dominance in bilingual acquisition: A case for mean length utterance differentials.Language Assessment Quarterly 3(2). 97-116.
Yip, Virginia & Stephen Matthews. 2007. The bilingual child: Early development and language contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zaretsky, Eugen, Benjamin P. Lange, Harald A. Euler & Katrin Neumann.2016. Factors considered and ignored in plural acquisition: Frequency rules?Language and Cognition 8(2). 283-313.
Zhang, Qingwen & Sze-Wing Tang.2010. Cl-NP phrases in five Chinese dialects. Paper presented at the 22nd North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-22) and the 18th Annual Meeting of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics (IACL-18), Harvard University, 20-22 May.