Pragmatic assessment: analysis of a highly frequent repeated utterance

The present study examined the pragmatic role of a frequently repeated utterance, "it's gone," within the multiple context conversational interactions of a 4-year-old specifically language-impaired boy. The data indicate that the phrase was an interactive access strategy to engage his partners in a nonexistence/disappearance game, a frequent type of early mother-child interaction. The assessment and intervention implications of these data are discussed.