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Learning conversational dependency: Children's response using un in Japanese.

Tomoko Tatsumi¹, Giovanni Sala²

¹Kobe University, Kobe, Japan.

Journal of Child Language

|July 5, 2022

Summary

Japanese children learn to use "un" by recognizing conversational cues. They increase "un" production, especially after yes-no questions and during speech continuations, improving interaction skills.

Keywords:

Japanese adjacency child language conversation corpus statistical modelling

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Area of Science:

Developmental Psychology
Linguistic Pragmatics
Child Language Acquisition

Background:

The Japanese token 'un' serves multiple discourse functions, including affirmation, backchanneling, and acknowledgment.
Understanding the developmental trajectory of 'un' use provides insights into early conversational competence.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how Japanese-speaking children acquire the appropriate use of the token 'un' in conversational interactions.
To identify the specific conversational cues that influence children's production of 'un'.

Main Methods:

Longitudinal analysis of conversational data from seven Japanese-speaking children (ages 1-5) and their caregivers.
Application of generalized linear models to examine the relationship between preceding conversational turns and 'un' production.

Main Results:

Children demonstrated a significant increase in 'un' production over time.
Children learned to associate 'un' production with specific cues, such as yes-no questions and interlocutor speech continuation signals.
The frequency of 'un' production increased when caregivers posed yes-no questions or indicated they were continuing their turn.

Conclusions:

Children learn probabilistic dependencies between adjacent conversational turns to master 'un' usage.
This learning process enables children to participate more effectively in dyadic interactions.
The study highlights the role of interactional cues in the acquisition of pragmatic competence.