TY - JOUR
T1 - Children's avoidance of lexical overlap: a pragmatic account.
T2 - a pragmatic account.
AU - Diesendruck, G.
AU - Markson, L.
N1 - Copyright:
This record is sourced from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
PY - 2001/1/1
Y1 - 2001/1/1
N2 - Children tend to choose an unfamiliar object rather than a familiar one when asked to find the referent of a novel name. This response has been taken as evidence for the operation of certain lexical constraints in children's inferences of word meanings. The present studies test an alternative--pragmatic--explanation of this phenomenon among 3-year-olds. In Study 1 children responded to a request for the referent of a novel label in the same way that they responded to a request for the referent of a novel fact. Study 2 intimated that children assume that labels are common knowledge among members of the same language community. Study 3 demonstrated that shared knowledge between a speaker and listener plays a decisive role in how children interpret a speaker's request. The findings suggest that 3-year-olds' avoidance of lexical overlap is not unique to naming and may derive from children's sensitivity to speakers' communicative intentions.
AB - Children tend to choose an unfamiliar object rather than a familiar one when asked to find the referent of a novel name. This response has been taken as evidence for the operation of certain lexical constraints in children's inferences of word meanings. The present studies test an alternative--pragmatic--explanation of this phenomenon among 3-year-olds. In Study 1 children responded to a request for the referent of a novel label in the same way that they responded to a request for the referent of a novel fact. Study 2 intimated that children assume that labels are common knowledge among members of the same language community. Study 3 demonstrated that shared knowledge between a speaker and listener plays a decisive role in how children interpret a speaker's request. The findings suggest that 3-year-olds' avoidance of lexical overlap is not unique to naming and may derive from children's sensitivity to speakers' communicative intentions.
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UR - http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic1317532.files/10-01/Disendruck-Markson-2001.pdf
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0035458735&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/0012-1649.37.5.630
DO - 10.1037/0012-1649.37.5.630
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C2 - 11552759
SN - 0012-1649
VL - 37
SP - 630
EP - 644
JO - Developmental Psychology
JF - Developmental Psychology
IS - 5
ER -