Kang, a boy, was age 2;10.7 at the beginning of taping, and 3;9.23 a year later at the end of 23 sessions. His mean MLU (mean length of utterance in morphemes) was 3.56, increasing from 2.82 to a high of 5.48, though after he reached MLU 3.0, the MLU simply varied rather than increasing. (See Kang Statistical Summary for details.)
Kang was a very tall, strong, handsome, energetic and intelligent only child, much indulged, naughty, funny, and highly verbal. He loved pretend play, word play, and jokes of all kinds rung out in his loud ringing voice. Kang resembled the other only child in my sample, the little girl Zhong, in his obstreperous temperament, high speech output, and level and style of speech.
Kang lived with his parents. His grandparents, all Shandong natives, had brought both parents to Taiwan as infants. Both parents graduated from college; the mother had an MA in classical Chinese, and taught college Mandarin. Kang’s father worked for a British trading company. Both parents had learned quite a bit of Taiwanese from their friends, but spoke only Mandarin at home.
A housekeeper came daily, another Shandong immigrant who spoke Shandong Mandarin.
The maternal grandmother visited often. The housekeeper took care of Kang while his parents were at work. Kang began nursery school at age 3;6, a happy and much-discussed event for any Chinese child.
I usually taped Kang in the evenings after dinner. Kang and his mother delighted in intricate playacting, with each improvising parts as doctor-patient, dentist, nurse, baby, empress, chauffer, anti-communist guerilla, idol in a temple, restaurant owner and on and on. We interrupted a taping only once. Kang, who was not feeling well, bit me on the arm and drew blood. His mother took him away for a spanking (Tape 8).
I seldom set up special activities during taping. However, I design games to test tone contrasts for minimal pairs, such as yào ‘want’ a dolly vesus yǎo ‘bite’a dolly. Kang had persistently confused the high level tone of his surname with the low dipping surname of the research assistant’s otherwise identical name. But he consistently distinguished the tones in his mother’s ingenious role plays in tapes 12, 13, and 14. (Detailed discussion in Erbaugh 1982, Section 4.6).
The taping assistant was Ms. Chiang T’zu, a Mandarin teacher, Kang’s mother’s close colleague and friend, and my own former teacher. Chiang, well-trained in sociology, had exceptional talent for research methodology. She had conducted the interviews for me for the Mandarin Pear Stories study which used Chafe’s film (www.pearstories.org). Chiang had many helpful suggestions and analyses for child language as well. She also had excellent rapport with Kang, who both respected and adored her.
Kang lived in a suburb of Taipei, on an upper story of a comfortable concrete apartment building. The pleasant apartment was about 1,200 sf with two balconies. A kitchen and utility balcony opened off the living room. Three bedrooms and a bath were down ttje hall on the other side. Kang had his own room, while his parents had a room and a study. The house was very well supplied with books and toys, tapes and electric appliances. The father usually watched TV while I taped, but kept the sound turned low.
During the year Kang had a successful hernia operation, and the occasional cold, but was otherwise healthy and happy. I frequently socialized with the family outside the tape sessions.
Kang grew rapidly, and did very well both socially and in school. His parents arranged English lessons for him for a year before they all immigrated to the U.S. when he was 11. A follow up visit when he was 14 found Kang earning an A average at a top quality US middle school, while still doing well at classical Chinese. Kang’s formerly rowdy personality had toned down to a quiet courtesy with guests. Kang later attended university, took a profession, married, and fathered two children.