Determinants of Quantifier Interpretation in Typical and Atypical Child Language

这是一个研究说话者通过语用推理传递信息的项目。为了理解人们所说的话，一个人既要听他们说了什么，也要听他们没说什么。如果桌子上有一盘5块饼干，一个孩子把它们都吃光了，然后告诉她姐姐是谁做的，“我吃了一些饼干。”严格来说，这个孩子并不是在撒谎。注意，如果一个人吃了盘子里所有的饼干，那么他也确实吃了盘子里的一些饼干。这种“一些，可能是全部”的解释是由所说的逻辑给出的，而“一些，但不是全部”的解释被认为是未说出来的意义的一部分，适用于某些上下文中，但不适用于其他上下文中。理解这两种解释中的每一种何时被调用，被认为是一个问题，即哪一部分的大脑被使用。大脑中专门用于语言的部分被认为负责“部分，也可能是全部”的解释，而更高阶的推理——不是特定于语言的——被认为负责“部分，但不是全部”的解释。孩子们什么时候能够掌握语言使用中这种相对微妙的差异？如果科学能够在他们的智力发展过程中找到一个时刻，当他们理解其中一个而不理解另一个时，这将成为大脑哪个部分比其他部分发展得更快的证据。此外，已知有严重语言问题的儿童是否表现出理解一种解释而不理解另一种解释的证据？如果是这样的话，不仅会有证据表明大脑不同部位有不同的发育时间表，而且还可能有一种方法可以早期识别患有这些障碍的儿童，以便他们能够接受治疗服务，帮助他们学会应对语言问题。这项研究测试了以西班牙语为母语的儿童样本，因为西班牙语中意义类型的差异比许多语言更清楚，因为有一个词只有“部分或可能全部”的意思（“unos”），而另一个词可能有两种意思（“algunos”）。这个项目将研究正常发育的儿童和有发育性语言缺陷的儿童对这些结构的了解。患有这种语言障碍的学龄前儿童一旦达到学龄就很可能被诊断为阅读障碍。因此，本研究的目的之一是确定有语言问题的儿童和没有语言问题的儿童在这方面的知识方面的差异，作为在儿童发展早期诊断语言问题的一种手段。

This is a project to study information that speakers convey by exploiting pragmatic inferences. To understand what people say, one listens both to what is said and what is "unsaid". If there is a plate of 5 cookies on the table and a child eats them all and then tells her sister who made them, "I ate some of the cookies." the child is not strictly speaking lying. Notice that if one eats all of the cookies on a plate, it is also true that one has eaten some of the cookies on that plate. This "some, and possibly all" interpretation is given by the logic of what is said, while the "some, but not all" interpretation is considered to be a part of meaning that is unsaid and is appropriate in some contexts, but not others. Understanding when each of these two interpretations is called for is thought to be a question of which part of the mind is being put to use. The part of the mind that is dedicated to language only is thought to be responsible for the "some, and possibly all" interpretation, while higher order reasoning--not specific to language--is thought to be responsible for the "some, but not all" interpretation. When are children able to grasp this relatively subtle difference in language use? If science could find a moment in their mental developmental when they understand one, but not the other, it would constitute evidence of which parts of the mind develop more quickly than others. Further, do children who are known to have severe language problems show evidence of understanding one kind of interpretation and not the other? If so, not only would there be evidence of distinct developmental timelines for distinct parts of the mind, there might also be a way of identifying children with these disorders early so that they could receive therapeutic services to help them learn to cope with their language problem.This study tests a sample of children who speak Spanish as a first language, because the difference between the types of meaning is clearer in Spanish than in many languages, as a result of there being a word with only the "some and possibly all" meaning ("unos") and another word for that can have either meaning ("algunos"). This project will examine what both typically-developing children and children with the developmental language deficit labeled Specific Language Impairment know about these constructions. Preschool-aged children with this language disorder are very likely to receive a dyslexia diagnosis once they reach school age. Consequently, one aim of this study is to identify differences--in terms of their knowledge of this aspect of language--between children who have language problems and those who do not, as a means for diagnosing language problems early in child development.