Abstract
In order to assess the impact of verbal and nonverbal information on pragmatic response, 16 children aged 1∶5 to 2∶4 were asked questions that could take either informational or action responses. Conventionalization of linguistic form, gestural accompaniments, and preceding discourse were systematically varied. Children responded in pragmatically appropriate manner to conventionalized forms. The pragmatic function of the discourse preceding nonconventionalized questions had no effect on children's responses, but gestures affected all categories of response except simple action responses. Older children gave more simultaneous integrative responses than did younger children. Results indicate an increasing ability to coordinate linguistic and nonlinguistic sources of information, but little tendency to integrate across successively presented information.
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This research was supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and is based on the author's doctoral dissertation.
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Allen, R. Integration of communicational cues by very young children. J Psycholinguist Res 20, 389–402 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067971
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067971