Semantic Differentiation Among Expressions of Causality by Children and Adults.

Autor/in	Ammon, Mary Sue
Institution	Stanford Univ., CA. Dept. of Linguistics.
Titel	Semantic Differentiation Among Expressions of Causality by Children and Adults.
Quelle	(1981), (13 Seiten)Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Adults; Child Language; Language Acquisition; Language Research; Listening Comprehension; Semantics; Young Children + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? 'Children''s language'; Kindersprache; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb; Sprachforschung; Hörverständnis; Semantik; Frühe Kindheit
Abstract	This study focuses on meaning differentiation among different causative expressions. Semantic differences between lexical and periphrastic expressions are reviewed. A picture comprehension task was administered to 32 adults and 99 children between the ages of 32 and 70 months. The children were asked to select the picture that matched a sentence read to them. Because it was thought that verbalizations would interact in many ways with pictured situations, item content was controlled by presenting different verbalizations with the same picture sets. Each subject heard two different verbalizations for each picture, and subjects were split into two groups so that on certain items the effect of four different verbalizations could be assessed. Responses for each item were categorized by the qualitative nature of the picture selected. Each item set was scored in terms of whether or not individual subjects switched their choices of picture due to the verbalization. The data from the adults were evaluated to determine the degree of match between their responses and the pattern hypothesized on the basis of the analysis above. Also considered were factors such as the semantic features of lexical items and real-world knowledge about the situation and participants involved. (JK)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC