Comprehension of idiomatic expressions by Russian speaking typically developing children

Abstract

Background. The ability to understand idiomatic expressions begins to develop at an early age. However, such skill is not achieved within the same age and at the same pace in children speaking different languages. Objective. This study assesses comprehension of idiomatic expressions by Russian-speaking monolingual children aged 4 to 12 and monitoring the age dynamics of figurative language understanding. Design. 80 children were split in 4 age groups balanced for gender and level of formal education. The participants were asked to identify the correct non-literal meaning of 10 idioms. For each idiomatic expression, children heard three potential interpretations (one correct, and two incorrect ones of which one was literal while the other was overtly wrong). Results. Age-related differences were analysed by performing a series of univariate ANOVAs. These analyses showed that already at preschool age children begin to understand some kinds of idiomatic expressions and that such ability slowly develops throughout childhood. Interestingly, until the age of 6 children predominantly interpreted idioms literally. By the age of 7 their ability to correctly understand the non-literal meanings of idiomatic expressions enhanced significantly until it reached a plateau around the age of 12. Conclusion. The results of the study are in line with those found for children speaking other languages. The findings are interpreted in light of recent theories of language and cognitive development. Potential limitations of the study are also discussed.

Toward the Standardization of the BVL_RU: An Instrument for Speech and Language Assessment of Russian-speaking Children

“…The aim of such studies is to explore the validity and the reliability of the tool. The content of the BVL_RU is currently undergoing the process of its validation and standardization [14,15]. The validity and reliability of the BVL_RU is tested in a series of small-scale studies.…”

Adquisición de metáforas y modismos en la infancia: implicaciones educativas

“…Llegados los 11 años, los niños y las niñas ya emplean, sin dificultad, estrategias de análisis semántico, para extraer el significado de modismos composicionales que no conocen y se les presentan aislados, y se acercan a un 90 % de éxito en tareas de comprensión de modismos no composicionales y poco familiares, identificando acertadamente qué elementos del contexto les son útiles para construir su interpretación. De igual manera, producen modismos de diverso tipo, en coherencia con sus propias intenciones comunicativas (Eliseeva, Guts & Marini, 2017;Kamanga, 2017;Vulchanova, Vulchanov & Stankova, 2011;.…”

“…A la luz de los trabajos analizados para este apartado, podemos afirmar que, a mayor edad, mayor ocurrencia de respuestas idiomáticas para modismos no composicionales, independientemente del contexto de presentación de la expresión (Eliseeva et al, 2017;Crutchley, 2009;Gibbs, 1987). Asimismo, se confirma que la transparencia de los modismos constituyó una variable relevante para todos los grupos de edad, de tal manera que los modismos composicionales se interpretaron mejor que los no composicionales (Kamanga, 2017;Caillies et al, 2006).…”