A longitudinal analysis of young children's cohesion and noun specification in narratives

The early production of nine cohesive devices during narration about personal experience was examined in an 18-month longitudinal study of 10 children between approximately age 2;0 and 3;6. The specification of noun phrases and types of noun errors were also explored. The number of cohesive ties increased with both age and MLU, due to increased pronominal reference and conjunctions (while clausal and verbal ellipsis decreased). Specific cohesive devices also were acquired at different MLU levels. Most noun phrases were non-problematic and errors declined with increasing age and MLU; specifically, noun omissions declined. However, when new nouns were introduced, approximately one out of five were ambiguous throughout the study. Thus, children's narratives become more comprehensible with age as cohesive links increase, and noun errors decrease, but at 3;6 children are still having difficulty properly managing the introduction of novel nouns.