Book Chapter Published

Ordering, Replacement and Omission Errors in Coordinate Compounds Among Learners of Mandarin as a Second Language

Ding, J., & Huang, C.-R.* (2025). Ordering, Replacement and Omission Errors in Coordinate Compounds Among Learners of Mandarin as a Second Language. In S.-H. Teng, L.-P. Chang, & T.-H. Liu (Eds.), Handbook of Chinese Language Learning and Technology, 135-168. Springer Nature.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003441663-6

Abstract

Disyllabic coordinate compounds represent one of the most common lexical types in Mandarin and are particularly challenging for second-language (L2) learners to acquire, especially in terms of the correct ordering of the two roots. In this study, we investigated the errors made by L2 learners in using disyllabic coordinate compounds in the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi written tests corpus. The prevalent types of errors identified include replacement, omission, and ordering mistakes. The most frequent form of error-replacement error-involves the use of a different disyllabic compound with a shared root. The errors in coordinate compound use do not seem to be caused by prioritizing meaning over structure, or vice versa. Our research also revealed that first-language interference is likely the main source of these errors.

Keywords

Mandarin, Coordinate compounds, L2 learning, Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, Ordering of stem compounds, Corpus-based