A Corpus-Based Study on the Use Frequency of Large Numerals by Mandarin-Speaking Children

The usage characteristics of the large numerals in child language reflects both linguistic and cognitive development. The present study systematically examined Mandarin children’s naturalistic use of large numerals “bai”, “qian”, and “wan” and compared it with adult usage patterns based on a self-constructed corpus. The results revealed a significant preference for the use of “bai” over both “qian” and “wan” among children and adults alike. This shared pattern suggests that children’s acquisition of large numerals is strongly shaped by adult language input. This study addresses a critical gap in research on the acquisition of large numerals by Mandarin-speaking children, providing valuable insights for the broader theoretical framework of cross-linguistic numerical cognition.

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