Pragmatics, Metalanguage, and Addressee-Uptake in Language Acquisition

语言习得中的语用学、元语言和收件人的吸收

• 批准号: 9731781
• 负责人: Eve Clark
• 金额: $ 22.85万
• 依托单位: Stanford University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-10-01 至 2002-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9731781&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Pragmatics; Metalanguage; Addressee; Uptake; Language

This project looks at the METALANGUAGE DIRECTIONS about words and word meanings contained in child directed speech, and at their UPTAKE by children. Metalanguage directions may be explicit, as in the provision of a term for a category (`That's a squirrel`) or implicit, as when the speaker assumes the addressee can infer the identify the target referent (`Bring me the soup spoon`). Both explicit and implicit directions can be used to introduce children to new terms and to offer repairs when children come up with terms that are inappropriate or not specific enough. The theoretical issue here is the extent to which children aged 1;6 to 5;0 are offered and can make use of such metalanguage directions in their word learning. Identification of the pragmatic information available to and usable by you ng children offers an alternative to proposals based on constraints on word acquisition. The studies are both observational and experimental. In the observational studies, we will analyze the range of metalanguage directions actually used, and examine the consistency with which they serve to introduce members of different word classes (e.g., nouns vs verbs vs prepositions) as well as different semantic relations (e.g., inclusion, part of). We will also look at evidence for uptake (from children's usage) and its relation to the type of metalanguage direction used. In the experimental studies, we examine in detail the range of forms adults make use of in their metalanguage directions when they are asked to teach words from different word classes (e.g., nouns vs adjectives vs verbs). We also look at children's ability to understand differences between explicit and implicit directions used both to introduce new terms and to repair terms already under consideration. Lastly, we look at whether the same range of metalanguage directions is used when adults teach other adults new terms in an unfamiliar domain. These studies will allow us to establish (a) the extent to which there is a continuum of forms for metalanguage directions, from explicit to implicit, and also a continuum from implicit directions to inductions; (b) whether words in some word classes can be taught while others must be induced (e.g., nouns and verbs vs prepositions); (c) whether adults favor particular kinds of metalanguage directions for particular word classes (e.g., whether proper nouns are typically offered in explicit directions, compared to verbs, say, in implicit ones), and (d) how effective different metalanguage forms are for word learning, as measured by child uptake.

本项目着眼于儿童直接言语中包含的单词和词义的元语言方向，以及儿童对它们的吸收。元语言的指示可以是明确的，比如为一个类别提供一个术语（“那是一只松鼠”），也可以是隐含的，比如说话者假设受话人可以推断出目标指涉者的身份（“把汤匙给我”）。明确和隐含的指示都可以用来向孩子介绍新术语，并在孩子想出不合适或不够具体的术语时提供纠正。这里的理论问题是1岁儿童在多大程度上；6到5；，并能在他们的单词学习中利用这些元语言方向。识别幼儿可利用和可用的语用信息为基于词汇习得限制的建议提供了另一种选择。这些研究既有观察性的，也有实验性的。在观察性研究中，我们将分析实际使用的元语言方向的范围，并检查它们用于介绍不同词类成员（例如，名词、动词、介词）以及不同语义关系（例如，包含、部分）的一致性。我们还将研究（从儿童的使用中）吸收的证据及其与所使用的元语言方向类型的关系。在实验研究中，我们详细研究了成人在被要求教授不同词类（如名词、形容词和动词）的单词时，在元语言方向上使用的形式范围。我们还研究了孩子们理解在引入新术语和修复已经在考虑的术语时使用的显性和隐性指示之间的差异的能力。最后，我们研究了当成年人在不熟悉的领域教授其他成年人新术语时，是否使用了相同的元语言方向范围。这些研究将使我们能够确定(a)元语言指示的连续形式的程度，从显性到隐性，以及从隐性指示到归纳的连续形式；（二）某些词类的词是否可以教，而另一些词类则必须是引申的（例如名词、动词与介词）；(c)对于特定的词类，成年人是否喜欢特定的元语言方向（例如，专有名词是否通常以明确的方向提供，而动词则是以隐含的方向提供），以及(d)不同的元语言形式对单词学习的效果如何，这是通过儿童吸收来衡量的。