ERIC Number: EJ1077834
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Nov
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-0009
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Monolingual and Bilingual Preschoolers' Use of Gestures to Interpret Ambiguous Pronouns
Yow, W. Quin
Journal of Child Language, v42 n6 p 1394-1407 Nov 2015
Young children typically do not use order-of-mention to resolve ambiguous pronouns, but may do so if given additional cues, such as gestures. Additionally, this ability to utilize gestures may be enhanced in bilingual children, who may be more sensitive to such cues due to their unique language experience. We asked monolingual and bilingual four-year-olds and adults to determine referents of ambiguous pronouns given order-of-mention and coreferential localizing gestures. Results showed that bilingual children, like adults, but not monolingual children, used order-of-mention with gestures to resolve ambiguous pronouns. This highlights a wider implication of bilingualism for socio-cognitive development in children.
Descriptors: Preschool Children, Monolingualism, Bilingual Students, Adults, Cues, Nonverbal Communication, Ambiguity (Semantics), Form Classes (Languages), Comparative Analysis, Cognitive Development, English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, French, Italian, Thai, Japanese, German, Socioeconomic Status, Vocabulary Development, Scores, Statistical Analysis, Age Differences, Verbal Ability, Intelligence Tests, Vocabulary
Cambridge University Press. 100 Brook Hill Drive, West Nyack, NY 10994-2133. Tel: 800-872-7423; Tel: 845-353-7500; Fax: 845-353-4141; e-mail: subscriptions_newyork@cambridge.org; Web site: http://journals.cambridge.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A