Children's Pragmatic Inferences as a Route for Learning About the World
Abstract
This study investigated whether children can infer category properties based on how a speaker describes an individual (e.g., saying something is a “small zib” implies that zibs are generally bigger than this one). Three‐ to 5‐year‐olds (N = 264) from a university preschool and a children's museum were tested on their ability to make this sort of contrast inference. Children made some inferences from adjective choice alone (Experiment 1); performance increased as more cues to contrast were added (Experiments 2 and 3). Control studies show that these findings are not due to the particular properties used or the structure of these tasks (Experiments 4 and 5). These findings suggest that sensitivity to speakers' production choices may help children learn about the world.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2016
- Source ID
- 10.1111/cdev.12527
Entities
People
- Alexandra C. Horowitz
- Michael C. Frank
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Stanford University