摘要：The recursive computational mechanism generates an infinite range of expressions.However, little is known about how different concepts interact with each other within recursive structures.The current study investigated how Mandarin-speaking children dealt with possessives and generics in recursive structures.The picture-matching task showed that Mandarin-speaking children 4 to 6 had a bias for generics in ambiguous possessive constructions in Mandarin, where the genitive maker was covert (e.g., Yuehan de baobao chuang John's kid bed, where baobao chuang kid bed has both a generic interpretation and a referential interpretation).It was found that that Mandarin-speaking children below 6 had a non-recursive interpretation of the possessive John's kid('s) bed, and instead understand kid's bed to refer generically to a type of bed.This finding suggests that semantics does not parallel syntax in the acquisition of indirect recursion, in line with the prediction of the generic-as-default hypothesis which claims that generics are the default mode of representation of ambiguous statements when the statement can be either generic or non-generic.The delayed recursive possessive interpretation suggests that the full determiner phrase is acquired later than a noun phrase modification, which is universal in all languages.We also discuss the role of the overt functional category in the acquisition of indirect recursion.
