ERIC Number: EJ1051793
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Oct
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0012-1649
EISSN: N/A
Young Children Create Partner-Specific Referential Pacts with Peers
Köymen, Bahar; Schmerse, Daniel; Lieven, Elena; Tomasello, Michael
Developmental Psychology, v50 n10 p2334-2342 Oct 2014
In 2 studies, we investigated how peers establish a "referential pact" to call something, for example, a "cushion" versus a "pillow" (both equally felicitous). In Study 1, pairs of 4-and 6-year-old German-speaking peers established a referential pact for an artifact, for example, a "woman's shoe," in a referential communication task. Six-year-olds, but not 4-year-olds, continued to use these same expressions with the same partner (even when they were overinformative) but shifted to simpler expressions, for example, "shoe," with a new partner. In Study 2, both age groups were successful in establishing such partner-specific referential pacts with a peer when using a proper name. These results suggest that even preschool children appreciate something of the conventional nature of linguistic expressions, with significant flexibility emerging between ages 4 and 6.
Descriptors: Peer Relationship, Young Children, Age Differences, Language Usage, Preschool Children, Foreign Countries, Interpersonal Communication, Interaction, Kindergarten, Pictorial Stimuli, Visual Stimuli
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Kindergarten; Primary Education; Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Germany
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A