Development of the ability to distinguish communicative intention and literal message meaning

Children's ability to distinguish the literal meaning of a message and the speaker's communicative intent was investigated in 2 experiments. First- and second-grade children evaluated brief referential communication messages for ambiguity under 2 conditions. In an informed condition, the children knew which referent the speaker had intended. In an uninformed condition, they did not know the intended referent. 2 communication systems were used. In Experiment 1, the messages were written on cards and read to the child; in Experiment 2, a novel communication system was used. The developmental pattern of results was similar for both studies. The results showed that the first graders in the informed condition often claimed that an ambiguous message could not refer to a referent the speaker had not meant, whereas children in the uninformed condition were able to detect the referential ambiguity of the message. There were no condition differences for the second graders. The results suggest that young children's ability to analyze the literal meaning of a message is affected by the accessibility of the speaker's communicative intent and that children may develop a general ability to analyze representations of communicative intention.     

Vocal Pitch in Motherese

Summary Many writers have described motherese as characterised by higher vocal pitch relative to the pitch of adult to adult speech. The research literature pertaining to this issue is discussed under the following headings: cross‐cultural comparisons; male‐female comparisons; speaker's experience with children; speaker's attitudes towards and perceptions of children; social status of speaker; influence of child‐perceptions of children; social status of speaker; influence of child‐listener; age of child‐listener; state of arousal of child; nature of task; linguistic characteristics of speech and functions of raised pitch. Deficits in the resulting knowledge base are then identified. The review concludes with an outline of current developments in research in these areas.     

Father-child and mother-child speech: A perspective on parental roles

An analysis of the existing research on parents' speech to young children suggests that the differences between mothers' and fathers' speech appear especially in the nature of their vocabulary and in certain functional and conversational aspects of their speech when addressing their children. The findings suggest that the father is a more demanding or challenging conversational partner for the young child than the mother, who tends to be more sensitive to the child's abilities and requires less of the child as a conversational partner. We interpret these differences as reflecting parental roles which are in part different and complementary. The mother's specific role is to provide a feeling of security by avoiding situations where the child's established acquisitions would be challenged, while still stimulating the child. The father's specific roles is to prompt the child to attain higher levels of success, even if it means momentarily destabilizing the child. Literature on children's communicative behaviors with each parent was also examined. The sparse amount of research in this field reveals that children may communicate differently with mothers and fathers. The conclusions of this literature review are discussed in terms of different perspectives open for future research.     

Maternal interaction,private speech,and task performance in preschool children

This study examined the correspondence between ontogenetic and microgenetic change in private speech, the association of private speech with task performance, and the relationship of maternal interaction during a teaching session to preschoolers' verbal self-regulation and success in independent problem solving. Thirty 4- and 5-year-olds were observed while their mothers assisted them in solving two challenging tasks. In three subsequent sessions, children's private speech and performance were tracked as they worked on tasks requiring skills similar to those taught in the mother-child session. Correspondences between age- and session-related trends in private speech and task performance appeared that are consistent with Vygotsky's assumption that private speech undergoes progressive internalization with increasing cognitive competence. Contrary to Vygotskian assumptions, utterances accompanying action were not replaced by those preceding action (planning statements) with advancing age and task mastery. Private speech predicted gain in task performance more effectively than concurrent performance. A global index of authoritative parenting was a better predictor of private speech and task performance than were microanalytic measures of scaffolding, suggesting that microanalytic indices may miss critical features of maternal teaching behavior that promote transfer of cognitive strategies from adult to child.     

Intonation and communicative intent in mothers' speech to infants: is the melody the message?

This study explores the power of intonation to convey meaningful information about the communicative intent of the speaker in speech addressed to preverbal infants and in speech addressed to adults. Natural samples of infant- and adult-directed speech were recorded from 5 mothers of 12-month-old infants, in 5 standardized interactional contexts: Attention-bid, Approval, Prohibition, Comfort, and Game/Telephone. 25 infant-directed and 25 adult-directed vocalizations were electronically filtered to eliminate linguistic content. The content-filtered speech stimuli were presented to 80 adult subjects: 40 experienced parents and 40 students inexperienced with infants. The subjects' task was to identify the communicative intent of the speaker using only prosodic information, given a 5-alternative forced choice. Listeners were able to use intonation to identify the speaker's intent with significantly higher accuracy in infant-directed speech than in adult-directed speech. These findings suggest that the prosodic patterns of speech to infants are more informative than those of adult-adult speech, and may provide the infant with reliable cues to the communicative intent of the speaker. The interpretation of these results proposed here is that the relation of prosodic form to communicative function is made uniquely salient in the melodies of mothers' speech, and that these characteristic prosodic patterns are potentially meaningful to the preverbal infant.     

刻意曲解的语用分析

刻意曲解是一种特殊的语用策略,是语言使用者有意利用对方话语中的歧义性和语用模糊歪曲对方的话语意图,以此来实现某种交际目的。文章主要从间接言语行为、面子理论、合作原则和关联理论等方面对刻意曲解进行语用分析。     

英语语调与话语含义的语用推导

英语语调是说话人组织话语意义的一种手段,是达到交际目的的一个重要组成部分。不同的语调可以传递不同的信息和话语含义。语调的话语功能是不容忽视的。在言语交际中,发话人通过语调的常规及非常规使用来表达句子的常规及非常规意义。受话人则根据语调,结合语境及会话"合作原则"来推导句子的隐含意义。语调也是发话人传递新信息的一种交际策略。用关联理论的话来说,受话人可根据语调,获得新信息并改变自己旧的语境假设,以最佳关联为取向,去推导话语含义。因此,英语语调在话语含义推导中起着重要的作用。     

从认知语境视角探析唠叨言语交际冲突

从认知语用学角度看,唠叨言语交际冲突实际上是说话者和受话人认知语境之间的矛盾。为了避免唠叨言语交际冲突,达到交际目的,发话者一定要从受话者交际角色、经验、文化等个人背景和当时的情境语境出发,设身处地地进行换位思考,这样说出的话才能让对方觉得"中听",易于接受。     

Executive function and verbal self-regulation in childhood: Developmental linkages between partially internalized private speech and cognitive flexibility

Recent studies have noted that executive function and the use of self-regulatory private speech are related in childhood, and proposed that the critical leap that occurs in the development of executive function between the ages of three and six years may be due to the onset of language-based self-regulatory functions at this age. This research explored the relationship between executive function and private speech in a cross-sectional study of 81 children between four and seven years of age. The children performed an executive function task, the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS), and children's use of private speech was observed during a categorization task. The results indicated that, after controlling for children's age, gender, verbal abilities, and fluid reasoning, children's use of partially internalized private speech during the categorization task was significantly related to the number of phases successfully passed on the DCCS task, which required them to switch between card sorting rules. Children who used more partially internalized private speech were more likely to pass the most challenging phase of the DCCS task that assesses the ability to flexibly use different sorting rules according to a higher-order rule. We discuss the role of verbal mediation in the development of cognitive flexibility and its implications for the design of intervention programs for children who possess deficits of executive function.     

Preschoolers' Communicative Functions During Shared Book Reading With Mothers and Fathers

Research Findings: This study examined whether the communicative behaviors of preschoolers during shared-reading interactions differ according to child age or parent gender. Twenty Italian preschoolers (from 3.1 to 5.11 years) were observed during book reading with each parent separately. Communicative behaviors were analyzed according to the speech act theory. The findings showed that older children produced significantly more requests with fathers than with mothers but significantly more assertions with mothers than with fathers. Sequential analysis showed that only the fathers' reading utterances were significantly followed by older children's requests. These results suggest that older children adjusted their communicative functions to elicit richer conversations from their fathers. Practice or Policy: These findings have implications for the assessment and support of preschoolers' conversational skills.     

礼貌现象与语用距离研究

礼貌是一种语用交际策略,它是话语交际双方为了维系良好的人际关系,实现既定的交际目的而彼此表达切适的态度和情感的方式。话语礼貌的本质是话语对交际双方之间语用亲密度的一种"切适性",也就是礼貌的"度"。决定礼貌"切适性"的关键因素有两个:一个是说话人的话语内容和表达方式,另一个是说话人和听话人之间的语用距离。交际者应当根据特定的语用距离来选择最恰当得体的表达方式以完成交际任务,实现交际目的。     

哈贝马斯的语言哲学观

哈贝马斯以其交往行为理论在更大程度上完善了语言哲学尤其是语用学的理论。他在总结分析哲学的三种意义理论,即格莱斯的意向主义语义学、弗雷格的真值语义学、维特根斯坦到塞尔的言语行为理论的基础上,对当前的语言哲学作出批叛,认为这三种意义理论的前提是把有效性加以普遍化。他认为,语言行为不仅能行事,而且可以作为其它行为协调机制,而言说者是提出怎样的有效性要求、如何提出的有效性要求以及为什么会提出有效性要求的,是其交往行为理论的核心内容。他提出,有效性要求应包括真实性、正确性和真诚性三个方面,而上述的有效性要求的三个方面就是他对言语行为理论进行完善而提出的三个原则。     

Toward a holistic approach to communication: The effect of “pure” hemispheric reception on message acceptance

This study examined the relationship between hemispheric processing of complex messages and message acceptance. In particular the research sought to answer several questions regarding the processing and interpretation of persuasive messages and message sources. Based on the results of this research it was concluded that (1) the brain's right and left hemispheres, when isolated from one another, process information according to a particular “style,” (2) that semantic properties of language influence hemispheric processing, and (3) that message sources are perceived differently by the right and left hemispheres. Potential implications for the study of communication in terms of message style and acceptability, language intensity, perceptions of source, and perceptions of threat conclude this analysis.     

The role of private speech in the transition from collaborative to independent task performance in young children

This study was designed to examine the following central Vygotskian hypotheses about the functions of preschool children's private speech: (1) that private speech facilitates the transition from collaborative to independent task performance, and (2) that children's use of private speech is conducive to task success. Age-related changes in children's use of private speech were also examined. Forty preschoolers, ranging in age from three to five, completed a selective attention task with scaffolded assistance given from an experimenter when needed. In an effort to overcome several methodological limitations found in previous research, a new microgenetic method of analyzing speech-performance relations based on assigning task items to discrete categories reflecting six possible co-occurrences between private speech (item-relevant speech, item-irrelevant speech, silence) and performance (success, failure) was introduced. Results were that (1) item-relevant speech was used more often during successful than during failed items while the opposite was true for item-irrelevant speech; (2) children were more likely to use private speech on successful items after scaffolding than they were on similar items not following scaffolding; (3) after scaffolding, children were more likely to succeed on the next item if they talked to themselves than if they were silent; and (4) hypothesized curvilinear, age-related patterns in children's item-relevant private speech and silence were found, however, only when analyzing speech during successful items. Implications of this research for preschool teachers and parents are discussed.     

Self-regulatory private speech relates to children's recall and organization of autobiographical memories

We investigated relations between 4- and 7-year-olds’ (N = 58) autobiographical memory and their use of self-regulatory private speech in a non-mnemonic context (a cognitive planning task). Children's use of self-regulatory private speech during the planning task was associated with longer autobiographical narratives which included specific rather than general memories and which were recalled with greater narrative cohesion and more evaluative information. Children's use of private speech that served no regulatory function was unrelated to all memory variables. The relations between self-regulatory private speech and autobiographical memory were independent of children's age, general verbal ability, and gender. Our findings are discussed in the context of the social interaction perspective on autobiographical memory development.     

The Influence of Direct and Overheard Messages on Children's Attitudes Toward Novel Social Groups

Individuals often develop negative biases toward unfamiliar or denigrated groups. Two experimental studies were conducted to investigate the extent to which brief negative messages about novel social groups influence children's (4- to 9-year-olds'; N = 153) intergroup attitudes. The studies examined the relative influence of messages that are provided directly to children versus messages that are overheard and examined whether the force of these messages varies with children's age. According to implicit and explicit measures of children's intergroup attitudes, children rapidly internalized messages demeaning novel groups, thus forming negative attitudes toward outgroups merely on the basis of hearsay. These effects were generally stronger among older children, and were particularly pronounced when the message was provided directly to children.     

英汉话语跳脱现象的语用认知探析

分析了英汉话语跳脱现象在省力、有意隐瞒、避讳委婉、语误修正、话题转换和威胁恐吓六方面的语用功能,并基于关联理论探讨这些语用功能的认知原因:说话人认为跳脱在认知语境假设中是最关联语言形式,足以揭示说话人的交际意图时,会采用跳脱来代替完整的句子,此时跳脱最具关联性。关联性也决定说话人中途停顿的句式部位。     

Relevance matters. Eighteen-month-olds’ use of relevant informative pointing as a predictor of two-year-olds’ language abilities / La relevancia es importante. El uso de gestos deícticos relevantes e informativos por parte de niños de año y medio como factor predictor de las capacidades lingüísticas a los dos años

Abstract

The significance of pointing gestures in the development of linguistic communication is linked to their referential character and formation of common ground in use of gestures and speech. Our longitudinal study aimed to define the nature of this relationship more precisely and to explore whether the relevance vs lack of relevance of a child’s pointing gestures is related to development of language abilities. We developed a special protocol to measure relevant and irrelevant pointing gestures in 18-month-olds, sampled production of spontaneous speech and measured their language comprehension at two years of age. A group of 343 children was tested, and using structural equation modelling we showed that relevant gestures predict the level of development of language production and comprehension. As predicted, this association was not applied to irrelevant gestures. It is likely that a child’s more frequent use of relevant pointing gestures helps the caregiver to recognize the child’s communicative intentions and to comment on his/her behaviour appropriately. The identified developmental/predictive relationship is valid in both mentalistic and teleological interpretation of early communicative development.     

Question,Explanation, Follow‐Up: A Mechanism for Learning From Others?

This study explored differences in caregiver–child interactions following children's information‐seeking questions. Naturalistic speech from thirty‐seven 4‐year‐olds and their caregivers was used to explore children's information‐seeking questions, the caregiver's response, and children's subsequent follow‐up. Half of the families were low‐socioeconomic status (SES) and the other half were mid‐SES. Although children across socioeconomic groups asked a similar proportion of questions, mid‐SES caregivers offered significantly more explanatory responses to causal questions as well as more noncircular explanations than low‐SES caregivers. No differences were found in children's follow‐up to responses given to fact‐based questions; however, after hearing unsatisfactory responses to causal questions, mid‐SES children were significantly more likely to provide their own explanation. Such variability in caregiver–child interaction may have implications for subsequent learning.