Some knowledge children dont lack

Abstract

Experimental studies on children's understanding of indefinite NPs and negation report a systematic non-adult interpretation of sentences like ''The detective didn't find some guys'' (see Musolino 1998). In this article, we question whether these findings require a grammatical explanation. We draw upon the observation that negative statements are generally used to point out discrepancies between the facts and the listener's expectations, and that this felicity condition was not satisfied in previous studies. The findings of a truth value judgment task show that children's interpretation of indefinites in negative sentences is adultlike, when the felicity conditions associated with negative statements are satisfied.

Why is children’s interpretation of doubly quantified sentences non-isomorphic?

“…The fact that Hungarian adult language is more isomorphic than Hungarian child language is also incompatible with the "grammatical" approach of Musolino (1998), claiming that the initial assumption that children set out with is isomorphic scope marking, which they only give up if they meet with evidence to the contrary. Gualmini's (2004;2008) alternative theory, according to which children's scope preferences are determined by pragmatic conditions, has proved to be irrelevant for the experiments surveyed, which tested minimal pairs not differing in any pragmatically meaningful way.…”

“…However, Musolino & Lidz (2003), Gualmini (2004), and Musolino & Lidz (2006) found that children can access the non-isomorphic reading of sentences like (1) if it is supported by the context, e.g., if (1) is uttered in a situation in which first all the horses jumped over a log, but only two of them managed to jump over the fence.…”

“…That is why this interpretation is often not accessible to children, who resort to the reading that corresponds to the most frequent pattern. Gualmini (2004;2008), and Gualmini, Hulsey, Hacquard & Fox (2008) argue that isomorphism is an illusion. Children's interpretation of an ambiguous sentence is determined by pragmatic conditions.…”

“…The overwhelming majority of sentences with two operators that Hungarian children hear from adults are isomorphic, so the reason for children's use of inverse scope must be sought for elsewhere. Gualmini (2004;2008), and Gualmini et al (2008) relate scope interpretation to pragmatics, claiming that children opt for the scope readings that represent a good answer to the Question Under Discussion. If both interpretations are good answers, the Principle of Charity makes children choose the interpretation that corresponds to a Yes.…”

Born in the USA: a comparison of modals and nominal quantifiers in child language

“…These studies showed children's sensitivity to contextual factors when interpreting ambiguous sentences; they demonstrated adultlike performance by children in accessing many of the interpretations that had eluded them in previous research. According to the authors of many of these later studies (e.g., Gualmini 2004b, Gualmini 2004aKrämer 2000;Musolino and Lidz 2006;Gualmini et al 2008), the cause of children's non-adult behaviour in the earlier work resided in their greater sensitivity to certain discourse-pragmatic factors, as compared to adults. Gualmini et al (2008), in particular, focused on one contextual factor, namely the question that was under consideration in the experimental context presented.…”