ERIC Number: EJ777527
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-May
Pages: 18
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-0009
EISSN: N/A
Learning to Use Demonstratives in Conversation: What Do Language Specific Strategies in Turkish Reveal?
Kuntay, Aylin C.; Ozyurek, Asli
Journal of Child Language, v33 n2 p303-320 May 2006
Pragmatic development requires the ability to use linguistic forms, along with non-verbal cues, to focus an interlocutor's attention on a referent during conversation. We investigate the development of this ability by examining how the use of demonstratives is learned in Turkish, where a three-way demonstrative system ("bu," "su," o) obligatorily encodes both distance contrasts (i.e. proximal and distal) and absence or presence of the addressee's visual attention on the referent. A comparison of the demonstrative use by Turkish children (6 four- and 6 six-year-olds) and 6 adults during conversation shows that adultlike use of attention directing demonstrative, "su," is not mastered even at the age of six, while the distance contrasts are learned earlier. This language specific development reveals that designing referential forms in consideration of recipient's attentional status during conversation is a pragmatic feat that takes more than six years to develop. (Contains 1 footnote.) [This research was supported by the Turkish Academy of Sciences.]
Descriptors: Cues, Child Development, Foreign Countries, Attention Span, Attention Control, Psycholinguistics, Linguistic Competence, Speech Acts, Cognitive Style, Child Language, Language Research, Cognitive Development
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Turkey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A