In this paper we consider the order of emergence of comprehension of wh-questions and polar-questions. We argue that considerations of complexity and input favour the earlier emergence of polar questions; on the other hand, if one assumes that question understanding emerges as a consequence of interactive learning this favours (certain) wh-questions, as well as a small subclass of polar questions. We offer corpus evidence from the Providence corpus that (a certain class of) wh-questions are in fact understood earlier than the polar-questions. We test this observation using elicitation studies on German and Chinese speaking children. Our results confirm the finding from the corpus study and are in line with an interactive learning perspective for the emergence of understanding of questions.

中文翻译：

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Wh-Questions 先于极性问题理解：来自英语、德语和汉语的证据

在本文中，我们考虑了对 wh 问题和极性问题的理解出现的顺序。我们认为，对复杂性和投入的考虑有利于极地问题的较早出现；另一方面，如果假设问题理解是交互式学习的结果，那么这有利于（某些）wh-问题以及极地问题的一小部分子类。我们提供来自普罗维登斯语料库的语料库证据，表明（某一类）wh 问题实际上比极地问题更早被理解。我们通过对德语和汉语儿童的启发研究来检验这一观察结果。我们的结果证实了语料库研究的发现，并且符合交互式学习的观点，以了解问题的出现。