Abstract
Children in the third, fourth, and fifth grades were asked to do three different tasks in an attempt to determine their ability to use figurative language. Results for a Composition task showed that children produced a greater number of frozen than novel figures and that the absolute level of such usage decreased over grades. Results for a Multiple Sentences task revealed that children produced more frozen than novel figures and that both showed a marked increase over grade. Results for a Comparisons task indicated that figurative language increased over grade, and that for this task children used more novel than frozen figures. Taken in conjunction with earlier work, these data suggest that children are able to use figurative language well before theycan explain the exact nature of the relationship linking elements of the figure. In Piagetian terms, this implies that children use figurative language in the stage of concrete operations but cannot explain such usage until the stage of formal operations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Asch, S. E., and Nerlove, H. (1960). The development of double-function terms in children. In Kaplan, B., and Wapner, S. (eds.),Perspectives in Psychological Theory, International Universities Press, New York.
Barlow, J. M., Kerlin, J., and Pollio, H. R. (1971). Training Manual for Identifying Figurative Language, Technical Report No. 1, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Cassirer, E. (1953).The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, Yale University Press, New Haven.
de Villiers, P. A., and de Villiers, J. G. (1972). Early judgments of semantic and syntactic acceptability by children.J. Psycholing. Res. 1: 299–310.
Elkind, D. (1970).Children and Adolescents: Interpretive Essays on Jean Piaget. Oxford University Press, New York.
Gordon, W. J. J. (1961).Synectics: The Development of Creative Capacity, Harper and Row, New York.
Koestler, A. (1964).The Act of Creation Hutchinson, London.
Loban, W. (1963).The Language of Elementary School Children, National Council of Teachers of English, Champaign, Ill.
Schon, D. A. (1963).Displacement of Concepts, Tavistock, London.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported in part by Grant PEG-4-71-0066 from the Region IV Office of Education.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pollio, M.R., Pollio, H.R. The development of figurative language in children. J Psycholinguist Res 3, 185–201 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01069237
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01069237