Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gvh9x Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T02:41:08.286Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Factors influencing children's hypothetical reference*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Stan A. Kuczaj II
Stan A. Kuczaj II
Affiliation:
Southern Methodist University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sixty 3- to 6-year-old children were tested in order to assess certain aspects of their ability to answer questions alluding to hypothetical events. Each child was asked four hypothetical questions from each of four topic areas: (1) past-parent, (2) past-fantasy, (3) future-parent and (4) future-fantasy. Although correct responses increased with age for each of the four categories, children more often responded correctly to future hypothetical questions than to past hypothetical questions and to hypothetical questions involving fantasy characters than to hypothetical questions involving the children's parents. Moreover, the interaction of the past-future and parent-fantasy factors yielded an overall pattern of difficulty for the four topic areas. These findings are discussed in terms of the factors which influence the development of hypothetical reference skills.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , February 1981 , pp. 131 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

A version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, 9-11 November 1978, in San Antonio, Texas. Address for correspondence: Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275.

References

REFERENCES

Bates, E. (1976). Language and context: the acquisition of pragmatics. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Cromer, R. (1974). The development of language and cognition: the cognition hypothesis. In Foss, B. (ed.), New perspectives in child development. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Kuczaj, S. & Daly, M. (1979). The development of hypothetical reference in the speech of young children. JChLang 6. 563–79.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. (1973). Cognitive prerequisites for the development of grammar. In Ferguson, C. & Slobin, D. (eds), Studies of child language development. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar