Semantics in Acquisition

Geenhoven, Veerle Van

doi:10.1007/1-4020-4485-2

Cited by 3 publications

References 131 publications

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First language acquisition

Goodluck

2010

WIRES Cognitive Science

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This article reviews current approaches to first language acquisition, arguing in favor of the theory that attributes to the child an innate knowledge of universal grammar. Such knowledge can accommodate the systematic nature of children's non-adult linguistic behaviors. The relationships between performance devices (mechanisms for comprehension and production of speech), non-linguistic aspects of cognition, and child grammars are also discussed. WIREs Cogn Sci 2011 2 47-54 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.95 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

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First language acquisition

Goodluck

2010

WIRES Cognitive Science

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Direct Objects and Language Acquisition

Pérez‐Leroux

Pirvulescu

Roberge

2017

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Children’s Interpretations of Numerically Quantified Expression Ambiguities: Evidence from Quantified Noun Phrases and Bare Cardinals

Mousoulidou,

Paterson

2024

Children

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Understanding how children comprehend text by forming links between sentences has been the focus of research for decades. Such research has consistently shown that children use anaphors and resolve ambiguities in a different manner than adults. The present study examined a less-studied anaphoric reference that arises when two numerically quantified expressions (e.g., “three cats… two cats…”) are used in the text. Focusing on 249 six- to eight-year-old children and 50 adults for comparison, the study employed a picture selection task across six experiments to assess interpretative preferences in ambiguous and unambiguous discourses containing numerically quantified expressions. The findings indicate a pronounced difference in interpretative strategies: unlike adults, who predominantly adopted an anaphoric subset reading, children showed a consistent preference for the non-anaphoric reading, even in contexts explicitly disambiguated towards this interpretation. This preference persisted across various experimental manipulations, highlighting challenges in text integration and comprehension among children. Contributing to the developmental trajectory of language comprehension, this study underscores the complexity of cognitive development and linguistic interpretation, revealing significant developmental differences in processing numerically quantified expressions and anaphoric references within discourse.

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Semantics in Acquisition

Abstract: Published by Springer,

Cited by 3 publications

References 131 publications

First language acquisition

First language acquisition

Direct Objects and Language Acquisition

Children’s Interpretations of Numerically Quantified Expression Ambiguities: Evidence from Quantified Noun Phrases and Bare Cardinals

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