本研究主要探討中文為母語孩童對於中文「掉」的語義與「V掉結構」字面義和非字面義的習得。所探討四個和V掉結構習得相關的議題，包含類型效應、隱喻效應、語境效應及年齡。研究對象為60名國小學生，分為3個組別：7歲、9歲和11歲。此外，成人組則由20名研究生組成。本研究方法採用兩個有無語境的真值判斷任務。在無語境的真值判斷任務，受試者只看到句子，然而有語境的真值判斷任務，提供受試者圖片及故事作為輔助。
研究結果顯示，掉1 (往下掉落)對於孩童來說是最簡單的，其次為掉2 (物品移除)，而最難的則是掉3 (事件完成)與掉4 (狀態改變)。至於隱喻效應，V掉結構的字面義對小孩來說比非字面義來得容易。再者，受試者在無語境下表現得比在有語境時候來得好。換言之，當沒有提供照片與故事，他們的表現較佳。最後，本研究中所有孩童皆能夠理解掉的四個語義以及V掉結構的字面義。至於V掉結構的非字面義，11歲孩童的表現優於7歲及9歲。然而，就「掉」的類型效應及V掉結構字面義與非字面義而言，這三組孩童仍皆未達成人般表現。

The present study aims at discovering how Chinese children acquire meanings of Chinese diao, and literal as well as non-literal meanings of the V diao construction. Four issues related to the acquisition of the V diao construction were examined: type effect, metaphorical effect, contextual effect and age. In the study, sixty elementary school children were recruited as the participants and they were further classified into three groups based on their ages, namely 7, 9 and 11-year-olds. In addition, twenty graduate students were recruited as the adult group. Two truth value judgement tasks were employed, including a Word-in-Sentences (WISE) task and a Word-in-Scenarios (WISC) task. In the WISE task, only sentences containing the V diao construction were given, whereas stories and pictures were provided as aids in the WISC task.
The results of the present study showed that diao1 (to fall downward) was the easiest for the children, followed by diao2 (to eliminate something), while diao3 (to complete an event) and diao4 (to change a state) were the most challenging for them to acquire. With regard to metaphorical effect, literal meanings of the V diao construction were found easier than non-literal ones for the children to acquire. Next, the participants performed better on the WISE task than on the WISC task. That is to say, when stories and pictures were not given, their performance was better. Finally, the three age groups in the present study were found to comprehend four types of diao and literal meanings of the V diao construction well, while the 11-year-olds outperformed 7 and 9-year-olds on non-literal meanings. In terms of type effect of diao, and literal and non-literal meanings of the V diao construction, however, the child groups still did not show adult-like performances.

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