title: Children's Pragmatic Inferences as a Route for Learning About the World.
abstract: This study investigated whether children can infer category properties based on how a speaker describes an individual (e.g., saying something is a "small zib" implies that zibs are generally bigger than this one). Three- to 5-year-olds (N = 264) from a university preschool and a children's museum were tested on their ability to make this sort of contrast inference. Children made some inferences from adjective choice alone (Experiment 1); performance increased as more cues to contrast were added (Experiments 2 and 3). Control studies show that these findings are not due to the particular properties used or the structure of these tasks (Experiments 4 and 5). These findings suggest that sensitivity to speakers' production choices may help children learn about the world.
authors.affiliation: Stanford University.
authors.forename: Alexandra C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Horowitz
authors.affiliation: Stanford University.
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Frank
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D013850:Thinking