Chapter 4 Results
4.1 Two types of Mandarin maternal control acts
4.2.3 Summary
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three times (Line1, Line 2, and Line 3). Halle and Shatz (1994) mention that mothers may think that their children are not attentive, so they repeat contiguous utterances. In Line 4, the mother changed the hint into a direct imperative sentence form buyao hua
‘don’t draw’. After comparing Lines 1 to 3 with Line 4, it can be seen that the literal and referential meanings of the sentence form buyao hua ‘don’t draw’ (Line 4) explicitly indicate the mother’s intention to prohibit the child’s behavior than Lines 1 to 3 without directly mentioning the prohibited behavior. Therefore, the sequence from Line 1 to Line 4 increases the degree of explicitness in the expression of maternal intention. This is consistent with Sachs’s (1980) observation that the sequence of a mothers’ repetitions of directives is from less explicit to more explicit.
Also, Schneiderman (1983) considers that the sequence from implied action to
explicit action reflects the function of enhancing children’s compliance. The sequence from implied action to explicit action can be observed in Line 5. After the mother explicitly uttered buyao hua ‘don’t draw’, the child followed the direction and tried to find another book or piece of paper on which to draw.
4.2.3 Summary
This finding suggests that the first priority in choosing a syntactic form is to use the imperative. Therefore, the imperative is the preferred sentence type for use in regulating the child’s behavior by the Mandarin mother in this study. As mentioned Blum-Kulka’s (1990) explanations of intimacy, efficiency, and the asymmetrical power relationship between parents and children lead to a high frequency of the use of direct forms. Gao (1999) claims that the most effective and appropriate way to
influence a child’s behavior in Chinese is considered to be through the use of
imperatives, but that is considered the least efficient way by users of English. Based
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on our data, the Mandarin mother used the imperative to regulate the child’s behavior in the directives and the prohibitions, so the mother may think that the use of the imperative was effective.
4.3 Semantic modification
In this Section, we will display the various semantic modifications that the mother adopted under directives (Section 4.3.1) and prohibitions (Section 4.3.2), respectively.
Because there would be possibly more than one kind of mitigation or aggravation modification in one utterance, another combination type was created to further analyze the major combinations of semantic modification (Section 4.3.3). After analyzing the use of maternal semantic modifications in addressing H, the data identified includes 102 mitigation, 139 bald, 42 aggravation, and 34 combination usages in two types of control acts.
4.3.1 The semantic modification in directives
We will examine how the mother uses semantic modifications in directives.
Table 4 shows the four types of semantic modification in directives by H’s ages.
According to the results in Table 4, 244 semantic modifications were found in
directives. Among them, there were 68 (27.9%) instances of mitigation, 117 (48%) of bald, 36 (14.8%) of aggravation, and 23 (9.4%) of combination. The frequency of the use of bald is much more than that of mitigation, aggravation, and combination.
Therefore, the result suggests that the highest frequency of semantic modification in directives belongs to the bald.
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The semantic modification in directives by H’s ages
Mitigation Bald Aggravation Combination Total Age Type N (%) Type N (%) Type N (%) Type N (%) N (%) (MIN: minimization, POL: politeness marker, COM: communal orientation, TAG: tag question, JUS: justification, BAR: bargain, IMM: immediacy, REP: repetition, THR: threat)
As shown in Table 4, bald (58.2%) and repetition (15.4%) are the two most extensively used semantic modifications at 2;1, but bald and minimization are mostly conveyed at the other three ages. There are two possible explanations to explain the reason why repetition occurs much more at 2;1 instead of at the other three ages.
Firstly, the mother might use repetition to increase the probability of compliance especially when the child fails to obey (Newport, H. Gleitman, & L. R. Gleitman, 1977; Schaffer & Crook, 1980). Secondly, the mother may think the child is not attentive, so she would repeat contiguous utterances to get the child’s attention (Halle
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& Shatz, 1994). Thus, the child’s compliance and attention would influence the mother’s use of repetition.
The bald occupied the most frequency at each of the four ages. The frequencies at each age are 53 (58.2%) at 2;1, 24 (46.2%) at 2;7, 26 (40%) at 3;1, and 14 (38.9%) at 3;7. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the bald is without mitigation or
aggravation. One of the examples of the use of the bald is observed in Example (10) when H was at 2;1.
Example (10) demonstrates the application of the bald to express the directive in Line 1. Line 2 is a repetition of Line 1 to ask H to sing, but Line 2 adds immediacy kuai ‘hurriedly’ to enhance H’s compliance.
Since repetition (15.4%) at 2;1 is another mostly used semantic modification, Example (11) shows an instance of maternal uses of repetition at H 2;1. H seems not to be attentive to his mother, so his mother repeats twice (Line 4 and Line 5) after original utterance (Line 2).
(11) M asks H to drink water.
%sit: H keeps looking at the yellow car in his hand.
M: Eddie, do you want to drink water?
%sit: M moves to the sofa and touches H’s head.
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M: Eddie, do you want to drink water?
M: ha -: do you want to drink water?
%sit: M touches H, and it seems to get H’s attention.
H: Drink water.
Minimization is another widely used semantic modification by H at 2;7, 3;1, and 3;7. The frequencies of each time are 5 (9.6%) at 2;7, 21 (32.3%) at 3;1, and 13 (36.1%) at 3;7. Example (12) is extracted from H at 3;7 to illustrate the use of minimization. The mother asked the child to eat a few boiled dumplings in Line 4 by using minimization yidian ‘a few’.
(12) M asks H to eat a few boiled dumplings.
1. H: 媽你要吃水餃.
2. H: 我也要吃水餃.
3. %sit: H 跑向客廳.
Æ 4. M: 你最好吃一點.
H: Mom, you want to eat boiled dumplings.
H: I also want to eat boiled dumplings.
%sit: H runs to the living room.
M: You’d better eat a few boiled dumplings.
4.3.2 The semantic modification in prohibitions
We will examine how the mother uses semantic modifications in prohibitions and discover the distribution in this Section. The four types of semantic modification in prohibitions by H’s ages are presented in Table 5.
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The semantic modification in prohibitions by H’s ages
Mitigation Bald Aggravation Combination Total Age Type N (%) Type N (%) Type N (%) Type N (%) N (%) (MIN: minimization, POL: politeness marker, COM: communal orientation, TAG: tag question, JUS: justification, BAR: bargain, IMM: immediacy, REP: repetition, THR: threat)
According to the results in Table 5, there are 73 semantic modifications in the category of prohibitions. Among them, there were 34 (46.6%) instances of mitigation, 22 (30.1%) of bald, 6 (8.2%) of aggravation, and 11 (15.1%) of combination. The result suggests that the highest frequency of the type of semantic modification in prohibitions is mitigation. A closer look at the detailed frequencies tends to reveal a similar tendency as for directives. Bald (38.1%) and repetition (19%) are extensively used at 2;1. Bald and minimization are two mainly prevalent semantic modifications at 2;7, 3;1, and 3;7. As in the case of directives, repetition occurs much more at 2;1, so repetition is prevalent at 2;1 in both directives and prohibitions. Thus, in prohibitions, the mother is likely to get the child’s compliance and attention by using repetition.
Example (13) is from H at 2;1 to illustrate the use of bald in prohibitions. The mother did not allow her child to play with the shower nozzle in Line 3. This example shows
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the mother use bald semantic modification to prevent her child from performing an undesired behavior.
(13) M asks H not to play with the shower nozzle.
1. %sit: 蓮蓬頭突然流出大量水.
2. M: 喔 no no.
Æ 3. M: 你不要再去玩.
%sit: A lot of water runs through the shower nozzle.
M: Oops, no, no.
M: You can’t play with that again.
Example (14) is presented to illustrate the use of minimization in prohibitions at H 2;7. In Line 5, the mother asked the child not to touch the necklace by adding a particle o ‘particle’ at the end of the utterance.
(14) M asks H not to touch the necklace.
4.3.3 The major combinations of semantic modification
The mother sometimes used more than one semantic modification in one utterance. This Section will seek to present the major combinations in the data. Table 6 lists all the combinations observed for directives and prohibitions.
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The combination of semantic modification in directives and prohibitions
Directives Prohibitions
(MIN: minimization, POL: politeness marker, COM: communal orientation, TAG: tag question, JUS: justification, BAR: bargain, IMM: immediacy, REP: repetition, THR: threat)
According to Table 6, we can observe that two kinds of combination are mostly used by H at the four ages. One is minimization and repetition. The other is
minimization and justification. Example (15) displays the combination of
minimization and repetition at H 2;1. The mother asked the child not to play with the car in the tub in Line 1 and 2. Line 2 repeats the content in Line 1 and adds a particle o ‘particle’ to achieve minimization.
(15) M asks H not to play a car in the tub.
1. M: 啊車車不能在裡面玩好不好?
Æ 2. M: 車車不要在裡面玩喔.
M: The car couldn’t be played with in the tub, OK?
M: The car couldn’t be played with in the tub.
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The following example presents a combination of minimization and justification at H 2;7. The mother used a particle a ‘particle’ and justification (“肚子痛痛” You will get a stomachache) to prevent the child from eating the necklace.
(16) M asks H not to eat the necklace.
1. H: 要吃項鍊.
Æ 2. M: 項鍊不能吃啊吃了肚子痛痛啊.
H: I want to eat the necklace.
M: The necklace can’t be eaten because you will get a stomachache.
4.3.4 Summary
The findings show that bald more often occurs in directives, and mitigation more often occurs in prohibitions. After examining the usage of semantic modifications at the child’s each age, the result shows that bald and repetition are the two most likely to occur when the child is younger. In this study, bald and repetition are used when the child is at 2;1. The mother may want to get the child’s compliance and attention by using repetition. However, bald and minimization are the two main semantic
modifications at the child’s other three ages. Thus, bald and minimization are the two dominant semantic modifications used by the Mandarin mother in this study. Hong (1998) has mentioned that Chinese speakers use more lexical modifications, so we can find that minimization is mostly used in our data. The mother uses lexical modifications such as particles to mitigate the force. In addition, two major kinds of semantic combinations are found after examining all of the combinations. One is minimization and repetition. The other is minimization and justification.
4.4 Content
The previous chapter has mentioned that the content is divided into competent action, appropriate behavior, and caretaking. In this Section, we will investigate the content that the mother regulates in directives (Section 4.4.1) and prohibitions
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(Section 4.4.2). After analyzing the content, the data identified includes 135 examples of competent action, 57 of appropriate behavior, and 125 of caretaking in two types of control acts.
4.4.1 The content in directives
Table 7 displays the content for directives by H’s ages. According to the results in Table 7, there were 244 examples of content in directives. Among them, competent action occupied 124 (50.8%), appropriate behavior 26 (10.7%), and caretaking 94 (38.5%). The frequency of competent action occupies the most, so the result suggests that the highest frequency of content in directives belongs to
competent action.
Table 7
The content in directives by H’s ages
Competent action Appropriate
behavior Caretaking (PRA: prosocial action, COP: cognitive/play, SOR: social regulation, UOO: use of objects, PHC: physical care, MON: monitoring)
As shown in Table 7, the subcategories of competent action are mostly occupied at H’s four ages. The content at H 2;1 is mostly focused on prosocial action (27.5%).
Prosocial action (26.9%) and cognitive/play (26.9%) are two major contents at H 2;7.
Cognitive/play is mostly expressed at H 3;1 (41.5%) and 3;7 (27.8%). Therefore, the content in directives is mostly focused on competent action. Example 17 is an
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example of prosocial action in directives when H was at 2;7. The mother asked the child to pick up the remote control in Line 3, and this behavior conforms to that of a prosocial action which benefits another person or provides for mutual benefit.
(17) M asks H to pick up the remote control.
Example (18) is to illustrate the content of cognitive/play in directives at H 3;1.
In this example, the content is about playing with bottles, so this belongs to the
content of cognitive/play. The mother asked the child to use a ball to knock the bottles down in Line 2.
(18) M and H are playing with bottles.
1. %sit: H 用手將其他瓶子打倒.
Æ 2. M: 你用球啊!
3. M: 你不要用手嘛 -: !
%sit: H uses his hand to knock down the other bottles.
M: You should use a ball.
M: You shouldn’t use your hand.
4.4.2 The content in prohibitions
The contents in prohibitions by H’s ages are shown in Table 8. Based on the results in Table 8, there were 73 contents in prohibitions. Among them, competent action occupied 11 (15.1%), appropriate behavior 31 (42.5%), and caretaking 31 (42.5%). The frequency suggests that the highest frequency of content in prohibitions belongs to appropriate behavior and caretaking.
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The content in prohibitions by H’s ages
Competent action Appropriate
behavior Caretaking (PRA: prosocial action, COP: cognitive/play, SOR: social regulation, UOO: use of objects, PHC: physical care, MON: monitoring)
As shown in Table 8, appropriate behavior and caretaking are mostly occupied at H’s four ages. At H 2;1, the use of objects (57.1%) gets the highest frequency.
Monitoring is respectively the highest frequency at 2;7 (46.7%) and 3;1 (61.9%).
Social regulation (62.5%) is mostly expressed at H 3;7. Example 19 displays the content of use of objects in prohibitions at H 2;1.
(19) M helps H to take a bath.
1. %sit: H 把他手裡的玩具鴨朝玻璃牆撞擊.
Æ 2. M: 喔喔喔玻璃會破掉不可以.
3. M: 要輕輕的 Eddie.
%sit: H bangs the toy duck in his hand against the glass wall.
M: Oh. The glass will be broken. You can’t do that.
M: Softly, Eddie.
The mother asked the child not to bang the toy duck against the glass wall in Line 2. In Line 3, the mother asked the child to bang softly. The mother wanted to protect the glass wall from being broken due to the child’s inappropriate behavior.
Thus, the content belongs to use of objects.
Example (20) demonstrates the content of monitoring in prohibitions at H 2;7.
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The mother warned the child not to fall down in Line 2. The mother focused on her child’s safety, so this example fits the content of monitoring.
(20) M and H are playing with a bamboo dragonfly.
1. %sit: H 把竹蜻蜓拿給媽媽.
Æ 2. M: 你不要跌碰碰喔.
%sit: H gives the bamboo dragonfly to his mother.
M: Don’t fall down.
Example (21) shows the content of social regulation in prohibitions at H 3;7. The mother asked the child not to jump (Line 1), or someone would ring the bell to warn the child not to jump (Line 2).
(21) H is jumping.
Æ 1. M: 你真的不要蹦蹦跳跳.
2. M: 等一下會有人來按電鈴.
3. M: 我已經跟你講了.
M: You really can’t jump.
M: Someone will ring the bell later.
M: Don’t fall down.
4.4.3 Summary
In this Section, we have looked for relation between two control acts and their content. The findings shows that competent action more often occurs in directives, and this finding is consistent with Kuczynski and Kochanska’s (1995) findings in their review of the literature. In addition, we also discovered that the content in
prohibitions belongs to appropriate behavior and caretaking.
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Chapter 5 Discussion
The analysis of syntactic directness in Chapter 4 shows that the imperative is the type of sentence preferred by the Mandarin mother to regulate the child’s behavior as shown in the use of directives and the prohibitions. In Section 5.1, we would discuss the preferred sentence type of imperative from the perspective of the child’s cognitive development. In addition to the child’s cognitive development, the culture factors which would determine the preferred sentence type are discussed in Section 5.2.
Finally, the findings for semantic modifications in Chapter 4 are that bald and minimization are two dominant semantic modifications, and, therefore, we will discuss politeness in maternal regulatory language in Section 5.3.
5.1 The child’s cognitive development
The results for syntactic directness show that the imperative seems to be the preferred sentence type for the Mandarin mother to use to regulate the behavior of her child. The usage of the imperative may be explained by the stage of the cognitive development of the child. Piaget identified four stages in cognitive development (Rosen, 1989; Huitt & Hummel, 2003). They are the sensorimotor stage (viz. birth to two years), the preoperational stage (viz. two to seven years), the concrete operational stage (viz. seven to eleven years), and the formal operational stage (viz. above eleven years). In this study, the child's ages were 2;1, 2;7, 3;1, and 3;7, and all of the four
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ages belong to the preoperational stage. Furthermore, Piaget divided the
preoperational stage into two sub-stages. One is the preconceptual stage (viz. two to four years), and the other is the intuitive stage (viz. four to seven years). All four ages, 2;1, 2;7, 3;1, and 3;7, belong to the preconceptual stage. The child’s logic is based on transductive reasoning at the preconceptual stage, and such reasoning is neither inductive nor deductive but rather shifts from particular to particular. This means the child does not reason based on abstract notions of definitions, but on the accidental linking together of associations. Thus, thinking is done in a nonlogical way.
Mothers may understand the limitations to the level of their children’s logical and reasoning ability, so their speech to children may conform to the children’s comprehension abilities. Speech to younger children tends to be literal and
referentially explicit (Schneiderman, 1983) to ease the cognitive processing burden.
Therefore, the Mandarin mother would prefer to use the syntactically direct
imperative type of sentence, and the non-conventionally indirect tends to be the least preferred type.
5.2 The cultural factor
In this Section, we will try to discuss the relation between cultural factors and the preferred sentence type of imperatives used by the Mandarin mother. In the literature, some studies reveal that mothers from different cultures have their own preferred type of sentence to regulate their children. Estonian mothers like to use the imperative to regulate their children (Junefelt & Tulviste, 1997). However, American mothers use more indirect ways to regulate their children (Bellinger, 1979). The differences in language use may be explained by cultural factors.
Individualism and collectivism are the degree of distance in social relationships.
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Triandis (1993) suggests that individualism and collectivism are analyzed as cultural differences because evidence shows that the elements of subjective culture are organized around the individual or the collective. He mentions that the centrality of individualism is the autonomous individual; the centrality of collectivism is collective.
People likely think of groups and social relationships in collectivistic cultures, but people are likely to think of individuals in individualistic cultures (Triandis,
McCusker, & Hui, 1990). Thus, an interdependent self is linked to collectivism, but an independent self is linked to individualism (Triandis, 1993).
People in collectivistic cultures focus on status or power differences instead of distance more than those in individualistic cultures (Fukushima, 2000; Triandis, 1994:186), which is supported by studies on the speech act of request such as Bond et al’s (1985) study on Hong Kong Chinese (collectivism) vs. Americans (individualism).
That is, collectivist cultures are considered to be in high power distance and hierarchical position of unequals is identified. However, individualist cultures are
That is, collectivist cultures are considered to be in high power distance and hierarchical position of unequals is identified. However, individualist cultures are