First of all, it was found that the oldest children recruited in our study (i.e., the 11 year-olds) still did not show the adult-like performance on the comprehension of the opaque meaning of lao and lao with inanimate NPs. It indicated that the subjects should be recruited over 11 in future research in order to closely investigate the developmental pattern of children’s comprehension of figurative expressions in Chinese. Furthermore, whether children at age 6 are able to comprehend figurative
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expression lao can be examined in future research.
Second, in the present study the non-literal meanings were further categorized into transparent and opaque types based on Gibb’s (1987) definition of idioms.
However, the lao-phrases should be compared with the word frequency count sorted in the corpus in future research. For instance, the opaque meaning of lao in lao jianghu ‘a man of long experience’ and lao qian ‘a cheat or a swindler’ were not further differentiated in terms of word frequency in the present classification.
Third, there are factors that might be taken into consideration in future research.
For example, the factors regarding the part of speech of lao (i.e., lao as an adverb or an affix), the explicit instruction children receive, and how children perform in a production task can be explored.
Last but not least, whether the grammaticalization route proposed by Heine and his colleagues (1991) and the order of children’s language acquisition show a similar pattern can be examined.
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Appendix A
Test Items Used in the Interpretation Task
1Story Scenario:
螃蟹弟弟住在海底王國裡，有 一天，他決定到陸地上冒險，
交新朋友。但是，他不太懂朋 友說的話。
熱心又善良的你/妳，請幫幫 螃蟹弟弟的忙，好嗎？
Q1:
螃蟹弟弟走在路上，遇到小猴 子，小猴子說：「我帶你到最 熱鬧的老街逛一逛，那裡有很 多漂亮的古蹟。」請問小猴子 說的「老街」是甚麼樣的街道 呢？
1 The Interpretation Task and the Multiple-choice Task used the same story scenario.
100 Q2:
接著小猴子帶螃蟹弟弟搭捷 運，小猴子小小聲地告訴螃蟹 弟弟：「搭捷運時，要記得把 空位讓給老先生喔。」請問小 猴子說的「老先生」是什麼意 思？
Q3:
到了老街後，好熱鬧！有位老 伯伯對著小猴子與螃蟹弟弟 揮揮手。他們走過去，老伯伯 說：「小朋友，要不要算命？
不用花很多錢，只要 20 元就 好了喔。」小猴子偷偷跟螃蟹 弟弟說：「媽媽說，很多算命 的人都是老千，我們快點離開 這裡。」請問小猴子說的「老 千」是什麼意思？
Q4:
小猴子說：「螃蟹你看，這一 窩蜂的人都在排隊買餅乾，我 們也來買一包。」請問小猴子 剛才說的「一窩蜂」是什麼意 思？
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102 Q8:
終於到餐廳了，他們吃得好飽 好飽。這時，小猴子接到媽媽 的電話，媽媽要小猴子趕快回 家。回家的路上，他們遇到了 兔子先生，小猴子向螃蟹弟弟 介紹：「這位是兔子先生，他 是我的老同學。」請問小猴子 說的「老同學 」是怎樣的同 學呢？
Q9:
螃蟹弟弟說：「你好啊，兔子 先生。」兔子先生說：「螃蟹 弟弟你好，初次見面，歡迎你 來，讓我請你吃頓飯吧。」小 猴子偷偷地告訴螃蟹弟弟：
「一向是鐵公雞的兔子先 生，今天竟然請你吃飯，真是 太難得了。」請問小猴子說的
「鐵公雞」是什麼意思呢？
Q10:
螃蟹弟弟說：「謝謝你的好 意，但我現在要去小猴子家，
下次再一起吃飯吧。」小猴子 說：「對呀，我正要帶螃蟹弟 弟回家，我的老母親在家裡等 我們呢。」請問小猴子說的「老 母親」是怎樣的媽媽呢？
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Q14: 排完鞋子後，叩、叩、叩，大
家聽說小猴子家來了一位客 人，住在隔壁的張伯伯跑來敲 門。張伯伯在門外說：「嘿嘿，
我最喜歡螃蟹了！可不可以 讓我看看這隻螃蟹長得有多 大？」小猴子聽見後，趕緊鎖 上門，關上窗，並告訴螃蟹弟 弟：「張伯伯是隻老狐狸，還 是別讓他進來比較安全。」請 問小猴子說的「老狐狸」是什 麼意思呢？
Q15:
小猴子又說：「雖然張伯伯是 老鄰居，但他很少和其他鄰居 聊天。」請問小猴子說的「老 鄰居」是什麼意思呢？
Q16:
螃蟹弟弟開始參觀小猴子的 家，他好奇地看著客廳裡的照 片：「小猴子，你爸爸是做什 麼工作的？」小猴子說：「我 爸爸是個農夫，每天都很辛苦 地工作呢。」 請問小猴子說 的「農夫」是什麼意思呢？
105 Q17:
螃蟹弟弟說：「原來如此！
那…小猴子，你不用工作
嗎？」 小猴子抓抓頭，說：
「唉呀，我是公司的老鳥，一 天沒去上班沒有關係啦。」請 問小猴子說的「老鳥」是什麼 意思呢？
Q18:
姐姐在旁邊聽他們聊天，忍不 住地說：「小猴子呀，他一開 始上班很認真，久了就變老油 條了。」請問小猴子的姐姐說 小猴子是「老油條」是什麼意 思呢？
Q19:
小猴子準備吃掉今天早上買 的餅乾。這時，小猴子的姐姐 說：「小猴子，等一下！你應 該該先問問媽媽要不要吃，這 老規矩你怎麼總是忘記呢？」
請問小猴子的姐姐說「老規 矩」是怎樣的規矩呢？
106 Q20:
吃飽之後，螃蟹弟弟要準備回
海底世界了，螃蟹弟弟說：「小
猴子，很開心認識你，謝謝你 帶我到處冒險，下次我還要再 來。」小猴子說：「好啊，下 次你來，我們就約在老地方 見。」請問小猴子說的「老地 方」是什麼意思呢？
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Appendix B
Test Items Used in the Multiple-choice Task
Q1: 螃蟹弟弟走在路上，遇到小猴子，小猴子說：「我帶你到最熱鬧的老街逛一
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109
110
111
Appendix C
Two Tasks Used in the Pilot Study
Part A: The Word-in-Isolation Task
1.「老街」的意思是什麼?
(1) 非常熟悉的街道 (2) 很有歷史的街道 (3) 很多老人的街道
2.「老朋友」的意思是什麼?
(1) 認識很久的朋友 (2) 像老人的朋友 (3) 跟朋友一起變老
3.「耳邊風」 的意思是什麼?
(1) 經常聽到許多八卦 (2) 耳朵旁邊的風很強 (3) 聽到的事當作沒聽見
4.「老套」的意思是什麼?
(1) 很老舊的方法 (2) 老人穿的外套 (3) 老人討厭的方法
5.「老母親」的意思是什麼?
(1) 非常勤勞的媽媽 (2) 年紀很大的媽媽 (3) 很有經驗的媽媽
6.「老警察」是什麼意思?
(1) 年紀很大的警察 (2) 想法很老的警察 (3) 很有經驗的警察
112 7.「老命」的意思是什麼?
(1) 很短的生命 (2) 描述自己的生命 (3) 老年人的生命
8.「老闆」是對誰的稱呼?
(1) 坐在店裡的老人 (2) 商店或公司的主人 (3) 很有經驗的老人 9.「老爺」是對誰的稱呼?
(1) 長得像爺爺的人 (2) 家中輩分大的男子 (3) 年紀大的爺爺
10.「拔腿就跑」的意思是什麼?
(1) 拔不掉鞋子所以不能跑走 (2) 拔掉鞋子所以腳很痛 (3) 用很快的速度跑走 11.「老么」的意思是什麼?
(1) 排行最小的孩子 (2) 年紀大的孩子 (3) 最調皮的孩子
12.「老師」是對誰的稱呼?
(1) 年紀很大的人 (2) 教導知識的人 (3) 幫助老人的人
13.「鐵公雞」的意思是什麼?
(1) 很小氣的人 (2) 用鐵做成的公雞 (3) 一道很好吃的菜
113 14.「老嫗」是什麼意思?
(1) 令人討厭的女人 (2) 年紀大的女人 (3) 有工作經驗的女人 15.「老樹」的意思是什麼?
(1) 老蟲子寄居的樹 (2) 長在老房子旁的樹 (3) 生長了很久的樹
16.「老規矩」的意思是什麼?
(1) 年紀很大的規矩 (2) 老年人遵守的規矩 (3) 舊有的規矩
17.「老先生」的意思是什麼?
(1) 長得像老闆的人 (2) 一位年紀很大的先生 (3) 欺負老人的先生
18.「農民」是對誰的稱呼?
(1) 種農作物的人 (2) 商店裡的主人 (3) 認真上班的人
19.「老態」的意思是什麼?
(1) 老人的態度 (2) 保持相同的樣子 (3) 人老了的樣子
20.「老地方」的意思是什麼?
(1) 老人住的地方 (2) 很熟悉的地方 (3) 歷史悠久的地方
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115
Q8：今年四十歲的張先生，已經是一位「老警察」了。
(1) 年紀很大的警察 (2) 想法很老的警察 (3) 很有經驗的警察
Q9：張叔叔才剛結婚，已經略顯「老態」了。
(1) 老人的態度 (2) 保持相同的樣子 (3) 人老了的樣子
Q10：我家「老爺」明天才回台灣。
(1) 長得像爺爺的人 (2) 家中輩分大的男子 (3) 年紀大的爺爺
Q11：小丸子是家裡的「老么」。
(1) 排行最小的孩子 (2) 年紀大的孩子 (3) 最調皮的孩子
Q12：靜香長大後想當一位音樂「老師」。
(1) 年紀很大的人 (2) 教導知識的人 (3) 幫助老人的人
Q13：大雄長大後認真工作，為了養活家裡的「老母親」。
(1) 非常勤勞的媽媽 (2) 年紀很大的媽媽 (3) 很有經驗的媽媽
(1) 非常勤勞的媽媽 (2) 年紀很大的媽媽 (3) 很有經驗的媽媽