Understanding a Third-Party Communicative Situation in Korean-Learning Infants.
Youjung Choi1, Hyuna Lee2, Hyun-Joo Song3
1School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA.
Developmental Science
|November 8, 2024
Summary
Infants use perspective-taking skills to understand language. 14-month-olds understand referential communication, especially when language cues aid perspective-taking.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistic Development
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Early language acquisition involves understanding referential communication.
- Infants' ability to infer speaker's intended referent is crucial for language development.
- Perspective-taking skills are foundational for interpreting communicative intent.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how 14-month-old infants use perspective-taking to interpret referential language.
- To examine the role of linguistic cues in facilitating infants' understanding of intended referents.
- To compare referent identification abilities in Korean-learning and American English-learning infants.
Main Methods:
- A looking-time task adapted from referent identification research was employed.
- Infants observed a speaker requesting an object (a ball) from a recipient.
- Experiments manipulated the speaker's visibility of the object and the linguistic cues used (e.g., demonstratives).
Main Results:
- Korean-learning infants expected referent identification when the speaker's perspective was considered, especially with demonstratives.
- American English-learning infants showed similar, though less robust, performance with demonstrative cues.
- Infants' performance was enhanced when perspective-taking was facilitated through separate introductions.
Conclusions:
- 14-month-old infants utilize emergent perspective-taking abilities to interpret intended referents in communication.
- Linguistic cues, such as demonstratives, significantly aid infants in resolving referential ambiguity.
- Findings highlight cross-linguistic similarities and differences in early referent identification, expanding research beyond English-learning infants.
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