Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T12:27:53.715Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Children's judgements of the functional acceptability of referential communications in discourse contexts*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Brian P. Ackerman
Brian P. Ackerman
Affiliation:
University of Delaware
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study determined whether young children are sensitive to the contextual influence of previous discourse on judgements of the adequacy of referential communications. Four- and six-year-old children were read short stories containing terminal referential communications that were either ambiguous or informative relative to a perceptual display of candidate-referential objects. Contextual information was given in the story prior to the terminal communication that was irrelevant to the ambiguous communications or that made these communications functionally informative. The subjects were required to say whether the listener in the story could identify one unique referent. The results showed that the judgements of both groups of children were sensitive to the discourse context of the communications. The children discriminated between the functionally informative and ambiguous communications.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , February 1983 , pp. 151 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

I thank the children and staff of Kemblesville Elementary School, Kemblesville, Pennsylvania. Address for correspondence: Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711.

References

REFERENCES

Ackerman, B. P. (1979). Children's understanding of definite descriptions: pragmatic inferences to the speaker's intent. JExpChPsychol 28. 1–15.Google Scholar
Asher, S. R. (1979). Referential communication. In Whitehurst, G. J.. & Zimmerman, B. J.. (eds), The functions of language and cognition. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bearison, P. J. & Levey, L. M. (1977). Children's comprehension of referential communication: decoding ambiguous messages. ChDev 48. 716–21.Google Scholar
Donnellan, K. S. (1966). Reference and definite descriptions. Philosophical Review 75. 281–304CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glucksberg, S., Krauss, R. & Higgins, E. T. (1975). The development of referential communication skills. In Horowitz, F. D.. (ed.), Review of child development research, Vol. 4. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In Cole, P.. & Morgan, J. L.. (eds), Syntax and semantics, Vol. 3. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ironsmith, M. & Whitehurst, G. J. (1978 a). The development of listener abilities in communication: how children deal with ambiguous information. ChDev 49. 348–52.Google Scholar
Ironsmith, M. & Whitehurst, G. J. (1978 b). How children learn to listen: the effects of modeling feedback styles on children's performance in referential communication. DevPsychol 14. 546–54.Google Scholar
Krauss, R. M. & Glucksberg, S. (1977). Social and nonsocial speech. Scientific American 236. 100–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markman, E. M. (1977). Realizing that you don't understand: preliminary investigation. ChDev 48. 986–92.Google Scholar
Markman, E. M. (1979). Realizing that you don't understand: elementary school children's awareness of inconsistencies. ChDev 50. 643–55.Google ScholarPubMed
Olson, D. (1970). Language and thought: aspects of a cognitive theory of semantics. PsychRev 77. 257–73.Google ScholarPubMed
Paris, S. G. (1975). Integration and inference in children's comprehension and memory. In Restle, F.., Shiffrin, R.., Castellan, J.., Lindman, H.. & Pisoni, D.. (eds), Cognitive theory, Vol. 1. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Patterson, C. J., Massad, C. M. & Cosgrove, J. M. (1978). Children's referential communication: components of plans for effective listening. DevPsychol 14. 401–6.Google Scholar
Shatz, M. (1978). The relationship between cognitive processes and the development of communication skills. In Keasey, B.. (ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Shepp, B. E. (1978). From perceived similarity to dimensional structure: a new hypothesis about perspective development. In Rosch, E.. & Lloyd, B. B.. (eds), Cognition and categorization. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Whitehurst, G. J. & Sonnenschein, S. (1978). The development of communication: attribute variation leads to contrast-failure. JExpChPsychol 25. 490–504.Google Scholar