Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2022.2157580
P. Jusczyk, A. Noiray
{"title":"Announcement of the Peter Jusczyk Best Paper Award","authors":"P. Jusczyk, A. Noiray","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2022.2157580","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2022.2157580","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76643305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01Epub Date: 2022-12-16DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2022.2149400
Jill C Thorson, Lauren R Franklin, James L Morgan
This study examined how toddler looking to a discourse referent is mediated by the information status of the referent and the pitch contour of the referring expression. Eighteen-month-olds saw a short discourse of three sets of images with the proportion of looking time to a target analyzed during the final image. At test, the information status of the referent was either new or given and the referring expression was presented with one of three pitch contours (flat f0, monotonal (~H*), or bitonal (~L+H*)). In Experiment 1, toddlers looked reliably longer to a target referent when it was either new to the discourse or carried a non-flat pitch contour. In Experiment 2, the referring expression was removed to observe effects of information status alone on looking to a target referent. Toddlers looked significantly longer to a target when it was new versus given. More fine-grained time course analyses of eye movements revealed differences in the speed and duration of fixation to a target. Overall, the experiments show that discourse reference in toddlers is mediated by the presence of newness and pitch contours, even in the case of given information.
{"title":"Role of pitch in toddler looking to <i>new</i> and <i>given</i> referents in American English.","authors":"Jill C Thorson, Lauren R Franklin, James L Morgan","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2022.2149400","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15475441.2022.2149400","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examined how toddler looking to a discourse referent is mediated by the information status of the referent and the pitch contour of the referring expression. Eighteen-month-olds saw a short discourse of three sets of images with the proportion of looking time to a target analyzed during the final image. At test, the information status of the referent was either <i>new</i> or <i>given</i> and the referring expression was presented with one of three pitch contours (<i>flat f0</i>, <i>monotonal</i> (~H*), or <i>bitonal</i> (~L+H*)). In Experiment 1, toddlers looked reliably longer to a target referent when it was either <i>new</i> to the discourse or carried a non-flat pitch contour. In Experiment 2, the referring expression was removed to observe effects of information status alone on looking to a target referent. Toddlers looked significantly longer to a target when it was <i>new</i> versus <i>given</i>. More fine-grained time course analyses of eye movements revealed differences in the speed and duration of fixation to a target. Overall, the experiments show that discourse reference in toddlers is mediated by the presence of newness and pitch contours, even in the case of <i>given</i> information.</p>","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10578648/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41241866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01Epub Date: 2022-06-11DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2022.2081573
J M Schneider, A D Abel, M J Maguire
Socioeconomic status (SES)-related language gaps are known to widen throughout the course of the school years; however, not all children from lower SES homes perform worse than their higher SES peers on measures of language. The current study uses mediation and moderated mediation to examine how cognitive and language abilities (vocabulary, reading, phonological processing, working memory) account for individual differences in a children's ability to infer a novel word's meaning, a key component in word learning, in school-aged children from varying SES backgrounds. Vocabulary and reading comprehension mediated the relationship between SES and accuracy when inferring word meanings. The relationship between SES, vocabulary, and inferring word meaning was moderated by age, such that the influence of vocabulary on task performance was strongest in young children. The reading pathway did not interact with age effects, indicating reading is an important contributor to SES-related differences in how children infer a word's meaning throughout grade school. These findings highlight different paths by which children's trajectories for inferring word meanings may be impacted.
{"title":"Vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension account for SES-differences in how school-aged children infer word meanings from sentences.","authors":"J M Schneider, A D Abel, M J Maguire","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2022.2081573","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15475441.2022.2081573","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Socioeconomic status (SES)-related language gaps are known to widen throughout the course of the school years; however, not all children from lower SES homes perform worse than their higher SES peers on measures of language. The current study uses mediation and moderated mediation to examine how cognitive and language abilities (vocabulary, reading, phonological processing, working memory) account for individual differences in a children's ability to infer a novel word's meaning, a key component in word learning, in school-aged children from varying SES backgrounds. Vocabulary and reading comprehension mediated the relationship between SES and accuracy when inferring word meanings. The relationship between SES, vocabulary, and inferring word meaning was moderated by age, such that the influence of vocabulary on task performance was strongest in young children. The reading pathway did not interact with age effects, indicating reading is an important contributor to SES-related differences in how children infer a word's meaning throughout grade school. These findings highlight different paths by which children's trajectories for inferring word meanings may be impacted.</p>","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10530852/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41134500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2022.2047689
Nina Semushina, Rachel Mayberry
Multiple studies have reported mathematics underachievement for students who are deaf, but the onset, scope, and causes of this phenomenon remain understudied. Early language deprivation might be one factor influencing the acquisition of numbers. In this study, we investigated a basic and fundamental mathematical skill, automatic magnitude processing, in two formats (Arabic digits and American Sign Language number signs) and the influence of age of first language exposure on both formats by using two versions of the Number Stroop Test. We compared the performance of individuals born deaf who experienced early language deprivation to that of individuals born deaf who experienced sign language in early life and hearing second language learners of ASL. In both formats of magnitude representation, late first language learners demonstrated overall slower reaction times. They were also less accurate on incongruent trials but performed no differently from early signers and second language learners on other trials. When magnitude was represented by Arabic digits, late first language learners exhibited robust Number Stroop Effects, suggesting automatic magnitude processing, but they also demonstrated a large speed difference between size and number judgments not observed in the other groups. In a task with ASL number signs, the Number Stroop Effect was not found in any group, suggesting that magnitude representation might be format-specific, in line with the results from several other languages. Late first language learners also demonstrate unusual patterns of slower reaction time for neutral rather than incongruent stimuli. Together, the results show that early language deprivation affects the ability to automatically judge quantities expressed both linguistically and by Arabic digits, but that it can be acquired later in life when language is available. Contrary to previous studies that find differences in speed of number processing between deaf and hearing participants, we find that when language is acquired early in life, deaf signers perform identically to hearing participants.
{"title":"Number Stroop Effects in Arabic Digits and ASL Number Signs: The Impact of Age and Setting of Language Acquisition.","authors":"Nina Semushina, Rachel Mayberry","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2022.2047689","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2022.2047689","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Multiple studies have reported mathematics underachievement for students who are deaf, but the onset, scope, and causes of this phenomenon remain understudied. Early language deprivation might be one factor influencing the acquisition of numbers. In this study, we investigated a basic and fundamental mathematical skill, automatic magnitude processing, in two formats (Arabic digits and American Sign Language number signs) and the influence of age of first language exposure on both formats by using two versions of the Number Stroop Test. We compared the performance of individuals born deaf who experienced early language deprivation to that of individuals born deaf who experienced sign language in early life and hearing second language learners of ASL. In both formats of magnitude representation, late first language learners demonstrated overall slower reaction times. They were also less accurate on incongruent trials but performed no differently from early signers and second language learners on other trials. When magnitude was represented by Arabic digits, late first language learners exhibited robust Number Stroop Effects, suggesting automatic magnitude processing, but they also demonstrated a large speed difference between size and number judgments not observed in the other groups. In a task with ASL number signs, the Number Stroop Effect was not found in any group, suggesting that magnitude representation might be format-specific, in line with the results from several other languages. Late first language learners also demonstrate unusual patterns of slower reaction time for neutral rather than incongruent stimuli. Together, the results show that early language deprivation affects the ability to automatically judge quantities expressed both linguistically and by Arabic digits, but that it can be acquired later in life when language is available. Contrary to previous studies that find differences in speed of number processing between deaf and hearing participants, we find that when language is acquired early in life, deaf signers perform identically to hearing participants.</p>","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/7d/85/nihms-1789241.PMC9949749.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10860146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-15DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2022.2149402
Irena Lovcevic, D. Burnham, M. Kalashnikova
{"title":"Infants’ Lexical Processing: Independent Contributions of Attentional and Clarity Cues","authors":"Irena Lovcevic, D. Burnham, M. Kalashnikova","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2022.2149402","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2022.2149402","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2022-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72657484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-25DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2022.2149399
Keshu Xiang, Hui Chang
ABSTRACT The present study investigates the multiple constraints on the processing of English dative alternation by Chinese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners. The intermediate and advanced learners completed an acceptability judgment task which was composed of 30 dative alternations selected from a spoken corpus. The results showed that the intermediate learners were constrained by only one predictor (pronominality of Recipient), whereas the advanced learners were constrained by eight predictors, including animacy of Recipient, syntactic complexity, pronominality of Theme, pronominality of Recipient, person of Recipient, number of Theme, concreteness of Theme as well as preemption. The results demonstrated that the advanced learners were sensitive to multiple constraints when they processed the dative alternation, but the intermediate learners were not. Our findings imply that L2 learners’ sensitivity toward multiple constraints increased as their L2 proficiency improved.
{"title":"Multiple Constraints on Second Language Processing of English Dative Alternation","authors":"Keshu Xiang, Hui Chang","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2022.2149399","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2022.2149399","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The present study investigates the multiple constraints on the processing of English dative alternation by Chinese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners. The intermediate and advanced learners completed an acceptability judgment task which was composed of 30 dative alternations selected from a spoken corpus. The results showed that the intermediate learners were constrained by only one predictor (pronominality of Recipient), whereas the advanced learners were constrained by eight predictors, including animacy of Recipient, syntactic complexity, pronominality of Theme, pronominality of Recipient, person of Recipient, number of Theme, concreteness of Theme as well as preemption. The results demonstrated that the advanced learners were sensitive to multiple constraints when they processed the dative alternation, but the intermediate learners were not. Our findings imply that L2 learners’ sensitivity toward multiple constraints increased as their L2 proficiency improved.","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2022-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75327957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-30DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2022.2138401
Mélanie Canault, Naomi Yamaguchi, S. Kern
ABSTRACT Cross-linguistic studies describing the syllabic structures of babbling productions agree on the high prevalence of the CV structure, but few have addressed the other types of syllables emerging during this pre-linguistic stage. However, studying the evolution of the distribution of syllabic structures during babbling would make it possible to test both the influence of motor constraints and the influence of the perceptually based patterns from the infant’s language environmental input on the production of early syllables. A monthly follow-up of 22 French infants from 8 to 14 months showed that the distribution CV>V> CCV>CVC>VC was shared by the majority of infants in the sample and remained the same throughout the observation period. The comparison of the frequencies of the structures observed with those attested in adult-French and in 4 other languages (Dutch, Korean, Moroccan Arabic and Tunisian Arabic) revealed significant differences between all adult samples and infant productions. The results have implications for understanding the nature of factors impacting syllable production at the babbling stage. We discuss the possibility that the target language does not affect the production of babbled syllables.
{"title":"Early Development of Syllable Structure in French","authors":"Mélanie Canault, Naomi Yamaguchi, S. Kern","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2022.2138401","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2022.2138401","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Cross-linguistic studies describing the syllabic structures of babbling productions agree on the high prevalence of the CV structure, but few have addressed the other types of syllables emerging during this pre-linguistic stage. However, studying the evolution of the distribution of syllabic structures during babbling would make it possible to test both the influence of motor constraints and the influence of the perceptually based patterns from the infant’s language environmental input on the production of early syllables. A monthly follow-up of 22 French infants from 8 to 14 months showed that the distribution CV>V> CCV>CVC>VC was shared by the majority of infants in the sample and remained the same throughout the observation period. The comparison of the frequencies of the structures observed with those attested in adult-French and in 4 other languages (Dutch, Korean, Moroccan Arabic and Tunisian Arabic) revealed significant differences between all adult samples and infant productions. The results have implications for understanding the nature of factors impacting syllable production at the babbling stage. We discuss the possibility that the target language does not affect the production of babbled syllables.","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2022-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76721645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-17DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2022.2128483
Published in Language Learning and Development (Vol. 18, No. 4, 2022)
发表于《语言学习与发展》(第18卷第4期,2022年)
{"title":"Acknowledgment of Reviewers","authors":"","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2022.2128483","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2022.2128483","url":null,"abstract":"Published in Language Learning and Development (Vol. 18, No. 4, 2022)","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2022-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138506490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-18DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2022.2107522
Alev Senem Ozakin, Xiaotong Xi, Peng Li, P. Prieto
ABSTRACT The present study investigates whether training second language pronunciation with tactile cues facilitates the production of non-native sounds involving accessible articulatory features. In a between-subjects experiment with a pretest-training-posttest design, 50 Turkish learners of English received audiovisual training on a set of target words and sentences containing two English interdental fricatives, /θ/ and /ð/, in one of two conditions, tactile and non-tactile. The tactile condition involved self-touching the tongue as it protruded during pronunciation of the two target sounds. Participants’ pronunciation performance was assessed through a word-imitation task, a sentence-imitation task, and a discourse reading task. Results showed that while both training conditions helped learners to improve their pronunciation performance in all three tasks, the tactile condition triggered greater improvements in the discourse reading task. These results extend previous findings on the benefits of tactile input for speech perception and suggest the efficacy of multisensory training paradigms for improving second language pronunciation.
{"title":"Thanks or Tanks: Training with Tactile Cues Improves Learners’ Accuracy of English Interdental Consonants in an Oral Reading Task","authors":"Alev Senem Ozakin, Xiaotong Xi, Peng Li, P. Prieto","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2022.2107522","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2022.2107522","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The present study investigates whether training second language pronunciation with tactile cues facilitates the production of non-native sounds involving accessible articulatory features. In a between-subjects experiment with a pretest-training-posttest design, 50 Turkish learners of English received audiovisual training on a set of target words and sentences containing two English interdental fricatives, /θ/ and /ð/, in one of two conditions, tactile and non-tactile. The tactile condition involved self-touching the tongue as it protruded during pronunciation of the two target sounds. Participants’ pronunciation performance was assessed through a word-imitation task, a sentence-imitation task, and a discourse reading task. Results showed that while both training conditions helped learners to improve their pronunciation performance in all three tasks, the tactile condition triggered greater improvements in the discourse reading task. These results extend previous findings on the benefits of tactile input for speech perception and suggest the efficacy of multisensory training paradigms for improving second language pronunciation.","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2022-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90461376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-28DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2022.2071715
E. Castroviejo, José V. Hernández-Conde, Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga, Marta Ponciano, Agustín Vicente
ABSTRACT This paper reports an experiment that investigates interpretive distinctions between two different expressions of generalization in Spanish. In particular, our aim was to find out when the distinction between generic statements (GS) such as Tigers have stripes and universally quantified statements (UQS) such as All tigers have stripes was acquired in Spanish-speaking children of two different age groups (4/5-year-olds and 8/9-year-olds), and then compare these results with those of adults. The starting point of this research was the semantic distinction between GS and UQS in that the former admit exceptions, unlike the latter. On the other hand, several authors have observed a Generic overgeneralization effect (GOG) consisting in allowing for UQS to be felicitous in the face of exceptions, thus proposing that this “error” stems from GS being defaults (simpler, more easily learned and processed). In the current paper we aimed to test the “Generics as Default” (GaD) hypothesis by comparing GS and UQS in three different age ranges. Our data show that, overall, the accuracy of GS is greater than the accuracy of UQS. Moreover, we also confirm a hypothesized interaction between age and NP type (GS vs UQS). Further, we present several data points that are not predicted by the GaD, including an observed decline in the accuracy of GS in the older group of children as well as in adults, and that children fail at rejecting statements that are not considered to be true generalizations.
摘要:本文报道了一项实验,研究了西班牙语中两种不同的概括表达之间的解释差异。特别是,我们的目的是找出在讲西班牙语的两个不同年龄组(4/5岁和8/9岁)的儿童中,什么时候获得了诸如“老虎有条纹”这样的一般陈述(GS)和诸如“所有老虎有条纹”这样的普遍量化陈述(UQS)之间的区别,然后将这些结果与成人的结果进行比较。本研究的出发点是GS和UQS之间的语义区别,因为前者承认例外,而后者则不同。另一方面,一些作者已经观察到一种通用的过度一般化效应(GOG),包括允许UQS在面对异常时表现得很好,因此提出这种“错误”源于GS是默认的(更简单,更容易学习和处理)。在本论文中,我们旨在通过比较三个不同年龄段的GS和UQS来检验“通用作为默认”(GaD)假设。我们的数据表明,总体而言,GS的精度大于UQS的精度。此外,我们还证实了年龄和NP类型(GS vs UQS)之间的假设相互作用。此外,我们还提供了一些GaD无法预测的数据点,包括观察到的年龄较大的儿童和成人的GS准确性下降,以及儿童无法拒绝不被认为是真实概括的陈述。
{"title":"Are Generics Defaults? A Study on the Interpretation of Generics and Universals in 3 Age-Groups of Spanish-Speaking Individuals","authors":"E. Castroviejo, José V. Hernández-Conde, Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga, Marta Ponciano, Agustín Vicente","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2022.2071715","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2022.2071715","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper reports an experiment that investigates interpretive distinctions between two different expressions of generalization in Spanish. In particular, our aim was to find out when the distinction between generic statements (GS) such as Tigers have stripes and universally quantified statements (UQS) such as All tigers have stripes was acquired in Spanish-speaking children of two different age groups (4/5-year-olds and 8/9-year-olds), and then compare these results with those of adults. The starting point of this research was the semantic distinction between GS and UQS in that the former admit exceptions, unlike the latter. On the other hand, several authors have observed a Generic overgeneralization effect (GOG) consisting in allowing for UQS to be felicitous in the face of exceptions, thus proposing that this “error” stems from GS being defaults (simpler, more easily learned and processed). In the current paper we aimed to test the “Generics as Default” (GaD) hypothesis by comparing GS and UQS in three different age ranges. Our data show that, overall, the accuracy of GS is greater than the accuracy of UQS. Moreover, we also confirm a hypothesized interaction between age and NP type (GS vs UQS). Further, we present several data points that are not predicted by the GaD, including an observed decline in the accuracy of GS in the older group of children as well as in adults, and that children fail at rejecting statements that are not considered to be true generalizations.","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2022-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85502251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}