| Combining methods in psychology, linguistics, ethnography, discourse analysis, and developmental psycholinguistics, this dissertation studies the syntactic forms, semantic meanings, and discourse functions of Mandarin modal auxiliaries in children's speech, focusing on how notions such as desire, ability, need, permission, obligation, and logical possibility and necessity are employed in children's daily interactive discourse, and how children's activities and interpersonal goals serve as a structuring frame and motivating force for the development of these modal concepts.;The data were collected from naturalistic interactive discourse by Mandarin-speaking children of 3, 5, and 7 years of age living in Beijing, China. Nine Mandarin modal are studied: yao 'want, must', xiang 'desire, think', neng 'can, allowed', hui 'know-how-to, will', dei 'hafta', yong 'need', xi huan 'like', yuanyi 'willing', and gan 'dare'.;The following findings are reported: (1) The previously conceived logical concepts of modality are first and foremost social notions from the perspective of the child. Depragmatization of modal notions is a later development as a result of internalization of their semantic-pragmatic structures. (2) Children's focus on notions of modality changes with age. Three-year-olds focus on personal ability and desire; five-year-olds focus on permission and obligation; and 7-year-olds start to focus on logical reasoning. This results in the following developmental order of modals: dynamic modality ;The above findings are discussed in terms of Vygotsky's developmental theory, children's social and cognitive development, their relevance to historical development, and the current rethinking of the theoretical notion of "context".;The dissertation concludes that children's daily social interactions are a crucial factor in the understanding of children's use and development of certain linguistic forms and their meanings. In return, studies of children's language in natural conversations can make important contributions to the understanding of children's social and cognitive worlds. |
