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Information tracking and encoding in early L1: linguistic competence vs. cognitive limitations
1Department of Linguistics & Phonetics, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Leeds, UK. c.decat@leeds.ac.uk
Journal of Child Language
|February 2, 2011
Summary
Preschoolers demonstrate basic information structure competence, understanding topic and focus. Their language errors in definiteness stem from cognitive limits, not a lack of linguistic knowledge.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Developmental Linguistics
- Child Language Acquisition
Background:
- Preschool children's understanding of information structure, including topic and focus, is crucial for effective communication.
- Investigating the source of children's linguistic 'errors' is key to distinguishing innate linguistic competence from cognitive development limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide experimental evidence of preschool children's competence in basic information structure.
- To investigate children's mastery of structural and definiteness distinctions for encoding information status.
- To differentiate linguistic competence from cognitive development as the cause of children's errors.
Main Methods:
- A story-telling experiment was conducted with 45 French-acquiring children aged 2;6 to 5;6.
- Analysis focused on children's use of structural and definiteness distinctions in discourse.
Main Results:
- Children exhibit continuity between their systems and adult basic discourse representation.
- Children's definiteness errors are not due to ignorance of adult encoding rules.
- Errors appear linked to cognitive limitations and assumptions about shared knowledge.
Conclusions:
- Preschoolers possess foundational competence in information structure, including topic and focus.
- Children's apparent errors in definiteness encoding are attributed to cognitive factors rather than linguistic deficits.
- Findings suggest cognitive development influences pragmatic aspects of language acquisition.
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