Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics

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Acquisition of Semantics, L1
(2,971 words)

Chinese adults all know that the word zìjǐ 自己 (‘him/herself’) in a sentence like Zhāng Sān juéde Lǐ Sì xǐhuān zìjǐ 張三覺得李四喜歡自己 ‘Zhāng Sān thinks that Lǐ Sì likes him(self)’ can refer to the same person that either Zhāng Sān or Lǐ Sì refers to, that a sentence like Měige nánrén dōu xǐhuān yīge nǚrén 每個男人都喜歡一個女人 ‘Every man loves a woman’ should be understood as John loves Mary, Bill loves Emily, Jack loves Lisa, and so on so forth, and that the wh-word shénme…

Cite this page
Chunyan NING, “Acquisition of Semantics, L1”, in: Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics, General Editor Rint Sybesma. Consulted online on 20 March 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2210-7363_ecll_COM_000107>
First published online: 2015



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