Determinants of Quantifier Interpretation in Typical and Atypical Child Language

这是一个研究说话者通过利用语用推理来传达信息的项目。为了理解人们所说的话，人们既要听已说的话，也要听“未说”的话。如果桌子上有一盘5块饼干，一个孩子把它们都吃光了，然后告诉她的姐姐是谁做的，“我吃了一些饼干。”严格地说，这孩子并没有撒谎。请注意，如果一个人吃掉了一个盘子里的所有饼干，那么他也确实吃了那个盘子里的一些饼干。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”的解释被认为是意义的一部分，在某些情况下是适当的，但在另一些情况下不是。理解这两种解释中的每一种都被认为是一个大脑的哪一部分正在被使用的问题。大脑中只专注于语言的那部分被认为负责“一些，可能是全部”的解释，而更高层次的推理--并非特定于语言--被认为负责“一些，但不是全部”的解释。孩子们什么时候才能领会这种相对微妙的语言使用差异呢？如果科学能够在他们理解其中一个而不是另一个的时候，在他们的大脑发展中找到一个时刻，这将成为大脑中哪些部分比其他部分发展得更快的证据。此外，那些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是另一种解释的证据？如果是这样的话，不仅有证据表明大脑不同部分的不同发育时间线，还可能有一种方法可以及早识别患有这些疾病的儿童，以便他们能够接受治疗服务，帮助他们学习应对语言问题。这项研究测试了以西班牙语为第一语言的儿童，因为西班牙语中的含义类型之间的差异比许多语言中的更明显，这是因为存在一个只有“部分和可能全部”含义的单词(“unos”)和另一个可以有任何含义的单词(“algunos”)。这个项目将考察典型发育儿童和被标记为特定语言障碍的发展性语言缺陷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上学年龄，很可能会被诊断为阅读障碍。因此，这项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之间的差异--就他们对语言这一方面的了解而言，作为在儿童发展早期诊断语言问题的手段。

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.