An Overview of the Studies on Tonal Acquisition of Mandarin-speaking Children

The present paper provides an overview of the studies on tonal acquisition of Mandarin-speaking children, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. By examining the findings and limitations based on the previous production and perception researches, it concludes that future work can be done to further explore children's acquisition of coarticulated tones and the interaction between tonal acquisition and segmental acquisition.