本研究旨在探討以中文為母語的兒童對代名詞詮釋的習得，在過往研究中，學者發現代名詞的詮釋不管是在中英文、或是在成人與兒童之間皆有不同，以中文為母語的小孩比起以中文為母語的成人、或是以英文為母語的小孩，會更為接受反向指涉。然而指涉的方向並非唯一影響代名詞詮釋的因素，於本研究中，我們認為先行詞與代名詞的關係亦為另一影響兒童習得代名詞指涉的重要因素。針對先行詞與代名詞的關係，代名詞出現的句型在本研究中共分為五類：主詞─主詞（SS）、主詞─受詞（SO）、受詞─主詞（OS）、受詞─受詞（OO），以及所有格（Poss）。在施測部份，本研究採用三種測驗：有情境的圖片判斷題（Picture-identification task with a rich context, PIC task）、無情境的圖片判斷題（Picture-identification task without a rich context, PI task）、與模仿測驗（imitation task, IM task），以測試兒童對於代名詞的詮釋。受試者包括從三歲到未滿八歲的八十位兒童，以年齡區分共分為五組，每組十六人，以及十六位成人作為對照組。
研究發現，先行詞─代名詞的關係、句型關係、代名詞指涉的方向，以及先行詞的類型皆會對代名詞詮釋造成影響。在先行詞與代名詞關係部份，若依詞類區分為三大類型，實驗對象在先行詞為主詞的表現較好，甚於先行詞為受詞、以及代名詞在所有格的位置。若從次分類來看，受試者在主詞─受詞類型表現得比在主詞─主詞時好，在受詞─主詞類型時的表現則比在受詞─受詞類型時好。在句型影響部份，兒童在嵌入句的表現優於在從屬子句的表現。而在代名詞指涉方向的部份，不同於英文的第一語言習得，實驗對象皆接受往後指涉，且實驗對象對往後指涉的理解亦隨著年齡而增長。然而，若相較於往前指涉，在往前指涉的代名詞詮釋表現上仍優於往後指涉。關於先行詞類型的部份，若先行詞在句法範圍裡，對於代名詞指涉的表現會優於在先行詞在篇章中的表現。至於不同測驗的影響方面，年幼兒童在理解測驗表現比在產出測驗好。大部分的受試者在有語境的理解測驗表現比在無語境的理解測驗佳。最後，考慮年齡與代名詞指涉的關聯性，研究發現六歲左右可能是習得代名詞指涉的重要時期，但要完全習得成人的代名詞指涉則可能要延至八歲以後。

The present study aims to investigate L1 acquisition of Chinese pronominal interpretations from the antecedent-pronoun relational perspective. In literature, scholars have observed the discrepancy between children and adults and also English and Chinese. It was found that Chinese children accepted more backward coreference than Chinese adults and English children. However, the direction is not the only factor involved in the pronominal coreference. In this study, we suggest that the antecedent-pronoun relation is another major factor in children’s acquisition of the pronominal coreference. Five patterns were examined in accordance with the antecedent-pronoun relation. Two comprehension tasks (picture-identification task with/without a rich context, PIC task; PI task) and one production task (imitation task, IM task) were designed to see how the antecedent-pronoun relation and other factors may influence Chinese children’s understanding and interpretation of pronouns. The subjects consisted of 80 children, aged from 3;1 to 7;10, and 16 adult native Chinese speakers. The children were further divided into five age groups with one-year intervals.
The results show that the antecedent-pronoun relation, the clausal type, the direction of the reference, and the antecedent type were all involved in children’s acquisition of pronominal reference. With respect to the antecedent-pronoun relation, a tendency of S > O > Poss was found. Within the main pattern, the tendency of SO > SS and OS > OO was observed. In addition, concerning the clausal type, our children performed better on embedded clauses than on subordinate clauses, while the adults showed a reverse tendency. With regard to the direction of the reference, although all the subjects performed better on forward coreference than backward coreference, their acceptance of backward coreference was demonstrated. Additionally, the antecedent type also affected pronominal coreference, where the sentence-bound coreference was found easier for the subjects than discourse-bound coreference.
Task effects and age factors were also discussed in this study. The production task posed more problems for the younger children, while the elder children and adults had less difficulty imitating the test sentences. As for the comprehension tasks, the PIC task was found easier than the PI task, due to the advanced understanding of the ambiguous reading required in the latter. Finally, it was found that age six might be a critical period for pronominal coreference, owing to the distinguished performance of the children aged seven to eight.

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