Joint attention helps explain why children omit new referents
Abstract New referents are typically introduced into adult discourse with lexical nouns. This makes new referents maximally clear for listeners, and helps the listeners direct their attention appropriately. A different trend is observed in child language, where new referents may be realised with dem...
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ftciteseerx:oai:CiteSeerX.psu:10.1.1.1072.7805 2023-05-15T16:55:36+02:00 Joint attention helps explain why children omit new referents Barbora Skarabela Shanley E M Allen Thomas C Scott-Phillips The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives 2013 application/pdf http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1072.7805 en eng http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1072.7805 Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. https://www.sowi.uni-kl.de/fileadmin/ewiss/pdf/Joint_attention_helps_explain_why_children_omit_new_referents__2_.pdf text 2013 ftciteseerx 2020-04-26T00:24:47Z Abstract New referents are typically introduced into adult discourse with lexical nouns. This makes new referents maximally clear for listeners, and helps the listeners direct their attention appropriately. A different trend is observed in child language, where new referents may be realised with demonstratives or pronouns, or they may be omitted altogether. This has led some to claim that children are pragmatically immature and not sensitive to the perspective of their interlocutors. In this paper, we analyse a videotaped corpus of naturalistic spontaneous speech of four children acquiring Inuktitut (2;0--3;6) to examine the different ways in which they realise new referents. Our results show that in their realisation of new referents children are sensitive to the presence or absence of joint attention. Specifically, they tend to omit arguments when joint attention is present, and they use lexical forms when it is absent. Their use of demonstratives reflects similar sensitivity: they tend to use demonstrative clitics when joint attention is present but independent demonstrative forms when it is absent. The use of omitted forms in child language is thus not explained by any pragmatic deficiency; indeed, it shows that children adjust their messages for the interlocutor, strictly following the Gricean Maxim of Quantity. Text inuktitut Unknown |
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Abstract New referents are typically introduced into adult discourse with lexical nouns. This makes new referents maximally clear for listeners, and helps the listeners direct their attention appropriately. A different trend is observed in child language, where new referents may be realised with demonstratives or pronouns, or they may be omitted altogether. This has led some to claim that children are pragmatically immature and not sensitive to the perspective of their interlocutors. In this paper, we analyse a videotaped corpus of naturalistic spontaneous speech of four children acquiring Inuktitut (2;0--3;6) to examine the different ways in which they realise new referents. Our results show that in their realisation of new referents children are sensitive to the presence or absence of joint attention. Specifically, they tend to omit arguments when joint attention is present, and they use lexical forms when it is absent. Their use of demonstratives reflects similar sensitivity: they tend to use demonstrative clitics when joint attention is present but independent demonstrative forms when it is absent. The use of omitted forms in child language is thus not explained by any pragmatic deficiency; indeed, it shows that children adjust their messages for the interlocutor, strictly following the Gricean Maxim of Quantity. |
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The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives |
format |
Text |
author |
Barbora Skarabela Shanley E M Allen Thomas C Scott-Phillips |
spellingShingle |
Barbora Skarabela Shanley E M Allen Thomas C Scott-Phillips Joint attention helps explain why children omit new referents |
author_facet |
Barbora Skarabela Shanley E M Allen Thomas C Scott-Phillips |
author_sort |
Barbora Skarabela |
title |
Joint attention helps explain why children omit new referents |
title_short |
Joint attention helps explain why children omit new referents |
title_full |
Joint attention helps explain why children omit new referents |
title_fullStr |
Joint attention helps explain why children omit new referents |
title_full_unstemmed |
Joint attention helps explain why children omit new referents |
title_sort |
joint attention helps explain why children omit new referents |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1072.7805 |
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inuktitut |
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inuktitut |
op_source |
https://www.sowi.uni-kl.de/fileadmin/ewiss/pdf/Joint_attention_helps_explain_why_children_omit_new_referents__2_.pdf |
op_relation |
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1072.7805 |
op_rights |
Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. |
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1766046589350051840 |