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Four- and six-year-olds use pragmatic competence to guide word learning*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2012

MARIA D. VÁZQUEZ ,
SARAH S. DELISLE  and
MEGAN M. SAYLOR
MARIA D. VÁZQUEZ*
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
SARAH S. DELISLE
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
MEGAN M. SAYLOR
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
*
Address for correspondence: Maria Vázquez, Department of Psychology and Human Development, 0552 GPC, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203-5721. e-mail: mvazquez@devpsy.com
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Abstract

The present study investigates whether four- and six-year-old children use pragmatic competence as a criterion for learning from someone else. Specifically, we ask whether children use others' adherence to Gricean maxims to determine whether they will offer valid labels for novel objects. Six-year-olds recognized adherence to the maxims of quality and relation and subsequently trusted the labels provided by a maxim adherer. Four-year-olds displayed this pattern when judging adherence to quality but not relation. A linear regression revealed that children's ability to identify maxim adherers predicted their ability to choose the correct object during word-learning trials. This research demonstrates that children use others' pragmatic history when judging the reliability of the information they offer.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , March 2013 , pp. 291 - 306
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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Footnotes

[*]

The authors would like to thank Jennifer Bauman, Anna Laura Chae, Michelle Doscas, Jonathan Herberg, Leighann Hughart, Stephen Killingsworth, Lauren Krensky, Daniel Levin, Percival Matthews, Maria Osina, Mark Somanader and Teddi Zuckerman for their help and feedback throughout the study. We would also like to express our gratitude to all our participants and their parents.

References

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