Specific patterns of referential use in Mandarin-Italian bilingual children

Abstract

In a recent study on Mandarin-English bilingual children, Zhou et al. (2022) identified two specific patterns in Mandarin productions: the overuse of demonstrative NPs in referent reintroductions among bilinguals compared to monolinguals and the preference for preverbal order when introducing new referents. The present study explores the narrative productions of ten Mandarin-Italian bilingual children (ages 4–8), elicited in both languages using MAIN. In order to determine whether the two patterns identified by Zhou et al. (2022) are also observed in the bilingual group of the present study, comparisons with an Italian monolingual group as well as with Mandarin monolinguals are drawn. The results indicate that, like in Zhou et al. (2022), when reintroducing referents, the Mandarin-Italian bilingual children produce more demonstrative NPs than their monolingual peers in both languages. As for referent introductions, when using existential constructions, Mandarin-Italian bilingual children prefer postverbal NPs. However, with motion and position verbs, which also require VS order in both languages, they exclusively produce preverbal NPs. Both patterns are regarded as typical bilingual strategies to reduce cognitive load during the processing of complex structures.