Children's Interpretation of Ambiguous Pronouns Based on Prior Discourse

Autor/inn/en	Bohn, Manuel; Le, Khuyen Nha; Peloquin, Benjamin; Köymen, Bahar; Frank, Michael C.
Titel	Children's Interpretation of Ambiguous Pronouns Based on Prior Discourse
Quelle	In: Developmental Science, 24 (2021) 3, (8 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Bohn, Manuel)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1467-7687
DOI	10.1111/desc.13049
Schlagwörter	Cues; Ambiguity (Context); Preschool Children; Interpersonal Communication; Form Classes (Languages); Discourse Analysis; Novelty (Stimulus Dimension); Handheld Devices; Computer Games; Language Usage; Language Processing + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Stichwort; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Interpersonale Kommunikation; Analytischer Sprachbau; Diskursanalyse; Computer game; Computerspiel; Computerspiele; Sprachgebrauch; Sprachverarbeitung
Abstract	In conversation, individual utterances are almost always ambiguous, with this ambiguity resolved by context and discourse history ("common ground"). One important cue for disambiguation is the topic under discussion with a particular partner (e.g., "want to pick?" means something different in a conversation with a bluegrass musician vs. with a book club partner). Here, we investigated 2- to 5-year-old American English-speaking children's (N = 131) reliance on conversational topics with specific partners to interpret ambiguous or novel words. In a tablet-based game, children heard a speaker consistently refer to objects from a category without mentioning the category itself. In Study 1, 3- and 4-year-olds interpreted the ambiguous pronoun "it" as referring to another member of the same category. In Study 2, only 4-year-olds interpreted the pronoun as referring to the implied category when talking to the same speaker but not when talking to a new speaker. Thus, children's conception of what constitutes common ground in discourse develops substantially between ages 2 and 5. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01