Generic noun phrases (e.g., "Cats like to drink milk") are a primary means by which adults express generalizations to children, yet they pose a challenging induction puzzle for learners. Although prior research has established that English speakers understand and produce generic noun phrases by preschool age, little is known regarding the cross-cultural generality of generic acquisition. Southern Peruvian Quechua provides a valuable comparison because, unlike English, it is a highly inflected language in which generics are marked by the absence rather than the presence of any linguistic markers. Moreover, Quechua is spoken in a cultural context that differs markedly from the highly educated, middle-class contexts within which earlier research on generics was conducted. We presented participants from 5 age groups (3-6, 7-9, 10-12, 14-35, and 36-90 years of age) with two tasks that examined the ability to distinguish generic from nongeneric utterances. In Study 1, even the youngest children understood generics as applying broadly to a category (like "all") and distinct from indefinite reference ("some"). However, there was a developmental lag before children understood that generics, unlike "all", can include exceptions. Study 2 revealed that generic interpretations are more frequent for utterances that (a) lack specifying markers and (b) are animate. Altogether, generic interpretations are found among the youngest participants, and may be a default mode of quantification. These data demonstrate the cross-cultural importance of generic information in linguistic expression. A developmental analysis of generic nouns in Southern Peruvian QuechuaGeneric noun phrases (e.g., "Dogs like to chew bones") are an important means of expressing generalizations to children. Generic noun phrases refer to kinds as opposed to individuals . Much of our world knowledge concerns kinds, yet kinds are abstractions (Prasada, 2000). Although one can view instances of a kind (e.g., Lassie, Rover, Rin-tin-tin), one can never view the kind fully or directly (e.g., dogs as a class). For this reason, generic language is a particularly crucial source of information to children regarding generic knowledge.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Bruce Mannheim, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, 101 West Hall, Ann Arbor MI 48109-1107, mannheim@umich.edu.. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptLang Learn Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 July 19. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptPrior research on children learning English has found that generics are common in childdirected speech (Gelman, Coley, Rosengren, Hartman, & Pappas, 1998), produced from an early age (Gelman, Goetz, Sarnecka, & Flukes, 2008), and understood appropriately by age 3 or 4 years (Chambers, Graham, & Turner, 2008;Cimpian & Markman, 2008;Gelman & Raman, 2003). Moreover, 4-year-old English-speaking children distinguish generics from the quantifiers "all" and "some" (Hollander, Gelman...
However, changes with age were importantly distinct from differences corresponding to cultural variation. Developmental and cultural differences in teleological explanations may reflect causal analysis of the features under consideration.
Southern Peruvian Quechua is an indigenous language spoken primarily in rural communities in the Peruvian Andes. The language includes a syntactic construction, '-paq', that expresses purpose or function, thus providing an opportunity to trace how parents and children with little formal education express teleological concepts. The authors recorded parent-child dyads (N = 36; children aged 3-5 years) talking about items in a picture book, and coded uses of-paq (e.g., 'What is that little [toy] bear for?' ['Chay usuchari imapaqtaq?']. For younger children (3-4 years) and their parents,-paq was infrequent and equivalent across domains. For older children (5-year-olds) and their parents,-paq increased dramatically and differentially by domain (most commonly produced for artifacts, food, and animals). These results provide new evidence that speaks to existing developmental accounts regarding the domain-specificity vs. domaingenerality of teleological concepts in development.
La comunidad de Wirabamba (Cotabambas, Apurímac) está a 3,856 m. sobre el nivel del mar y sus habitantes practican una economía mixta agrícola y ganadera. Se dedican al cultivo de papa amarga para elaborar chuño y en menor cantidad moraya, productos que truecan por maíz, trigo, y cebada con los de la qheswa; o para vender o trocar con los llameros por sal o ají. Este producto es básico para su economía pues siempre lo tienen a su disposición ya sea para venta, o trueque o para obtener otros productos básicos para su subsistencia. Siembran también para su autoconsumo: olluco, quinua y ocas.
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