Preschoolers Modulate Contrastive Inferences during Online Language Comprehension

Autor/inn/en	Ju, Narae; Williams, Natalie; Sedivy, Julie; Chambers, Craig G.; Graham, Susan A.
Titel	Preschoolers Modulate Contrastive Inferences during Online Language Comprehension
Quelle	In: Child Development, 94 (2023) 5, S.1319-1329 (11 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Ju, Narae) ORCID (Chambers, Craig G.) ORCID (Graham, Susan A.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0009-3920
DOI	10.1111/cdev.13925
Schlagwörter	Preschool Children; Inferences; Interpersonal Communication; Behavior; Verbal Communication; Eye Movements; Pragmatics; Cues; Comprehension; Computer Mediated Communication + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Inference; Inferenz; Interpersonale Kommunikation; Augenbewegung; Pragmalinguistik; Stichwort; Verstehen; Verständnis; Computerkonferenz
Abstract	This study examined 4- and 5-year-olds' incremental interpretation of size adjectives, focusing on whether contrastive inferences are modulated by speaker behavior. Children (N = 120, 59 females, mostly White, tested between July, 2018 and August, 2019) encountered either a conventional or unconventional speaker who labeled objects in a correspondingly typical or atypical way. Critical utterances contained size adjectives (e.g., "Look at the big duck"). With conventional speakers, gaze measures indicated that children rapidly used the adjective to differentiate members of a contrasting pair, indicating that even 4-year-olds derive contrastive inferences. With unconventional speakers, contrastive inferences were delayed in processing. The findings demonstrate that preschoolers adjust their use of pragmatic cues when presented with evidence disconfirming their default assumptions about a speaker. (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