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Children's interpretation of generic noun phrases
Michelle A Hollander1, Susan A Gelman, Jon Star
1Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-1109, USA.
Developmental Psychology
|November 14, 2002
Summary
Preschoolers learn to distinguish generic statements from "some" and "all" by age four. This study shows that by four years old, children understand that generics are generally true, not universally true.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Generic utterances, like "Cows say moo," possess unique semantic properties, differing from indefinite and universal quantifiers.
- Generics are typically true but not necessarily true of every member of a category, unlike universal quantifiers (e.g., "all").
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether preschool children and adults comprehend the two key semantic properties of generic statements.
- To determine the developmental trajectory of understanding generics in early childhood.
Main Methods:
- A comprehension task (Study 1) and an elicited production task (Study 2) were employed.
- Participants included 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, and adults.
Main Results:
- Four-year-old children, similar to adults, differentiated generics from indefinites ("some") and universal quantifiers ("all").
- Three-year-olds did not distinguish between generics, "some," and "all."
Conclusions:
- Generics emerge as a distinct semantic device by four years of age.
- Children's understanding of generalized statements develops significantly between three and four years old.