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Adjective ordering in the language of young children: an experimental investigation*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Meredith Martin Richards
Meredith Martin Richards
Affiliation:
University of Louisville
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Abstract

Young children described objects which differed on three simultaneous dimensions, using adjective combinations appropriate to the dimensions. Three- and 6-year-olds displayed significant ordering preferences for these adjectives, which agreed with the ordering preferences of adults in the same task. Four- and 5-year-olds were less constrained in their adjective ordering, although descriptive competence with the adjectives improved greatly at age five. In a comprehension task, the children located the objects from verbal descriptions which used the same adjectives. Neither latency nor accuracy of comprehension was affected by the order of adjectives in the description at any age. The children also reproduced the adjectives in different orders; the few errors which occurred were unrelated to adjective order.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 1979 , pp. 253 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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