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Acquisition of the Chinese Demonstratives “zhe” and “na” by Spanish Speakers

Authors

  • Wang Ziwei Facultad de Intercambio Cultural Internacional Universidad de Finanzas y Economía de Shanghai Shanghái, China 200043
  • Lu Xiuchuan Departamento de Filología Hispánica Universidad de Fudan Shanghai, China 200043
  • Geng Zhi Facultad de Intercambio Cultural Internacional Universidad de Finanzas y Economía de Shanghai Shanghai, China 200043

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18002/sin.v18i1.8427

Keywords:

zhè/nà; Spanish speakers; acquisition; errors; comparison between Chinese and Spanish demonstratives.

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of differences in Chinese and Spanish demonstratives on the acquisition of Chinese demonstratives zhè/nà (这/那) by native Spanish speakers, through the analysis of a self-constructed intermediary language corpus, questionnaires, and an interview method in conjunction with a mainstream Chinese textbook in the Spanish-speaking regions. It was found that primary level learners focus their usage on situational deixis, intermediate and advanced level learners mostly use contextual deixis, both of them use grammaticalized deixis. In addition, some typical errors made by primary level speakers, such as the confusion of zhè and nà, zhège (这个) and zhème (这么), zhè/nà and tā (它/他/她), are also made by intermediate and advanced speakers. And their reasons lie in the ignorance of zhè/nà on the part of teachers and Chinese textbooks, and some inappropriate explanations, etc. The results of this study will provide academic references for the teaching of zhè/nà to Spanish speakers, and we also offer suggestions for the design of Chinese textbooks and the teaching in the Spanish-speaking world with respect to demonstratives.

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Author Biographies

Wang Ziwei, Facultad de Intercambio Cultural Internacional Universidad de Finanzas y Economía de Shanghai Shanghái, China 200043

Facultad de Intercambio Cultural Internacional
Universidad de Finanzas y Economía de Shanghai
Shanghái, China 200043

Lu Xiuchuan, Departamento de Filología Hispánica Universidad de Fudan Shanghai, China 200043

Departamento de Filología Hispánica
Universidad de Fudan
Shanghai, China 200043

Geng Zhi, Facultad de Intercambio Cultural Internacional Universidad de Finanzas y Economía de Shanghai Shanghai, China 200043

Facultad de Intercambio Cultural Internacional
Universidad de Finanzas y Economía de Shanghai
Shanghai, China 200043

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Published

2024-07-07 — Updated on 2026-01-22

Versions

How to Cite

Ziwei, W., Xiuchuan, L., & Zhi, G. (2026). Acquisition of the Chinese Demonstratives “zhe” and “na” by Spanish Speakers. Sinología hispánica. China Studies Review, 18(1), 49–70. https://doi.org/10.18002/sin.v18i1.8427 (Original work published July 7, 2024)

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