The acquisition of personal pronouns in French-speaking and English-speaking children

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20366272
AutoresPASCALE C GIROUARD (Université de Montréal), Marcelle Ricard (Université de Montréal), Thérèse Gouin Décarie (Université de Montréal)
Año1997
Volumen24
Número2
Páginas311-326
Fecha de publicación1997-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Child Language (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0305-0009 • E-ISSN: 1469-7602
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s030500099700305x
PMID9308420
OpenAlexW2139548285
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas16

This paper presents a longitudinal study on the acquisition of first, second, and third person pronouns in twelve French-speaking and twelve English-speaking children. Comprehension and production data were collected every two months, beginning when the subjects were aged 1;6 and ending once pronouns were fully acquired. Three hypotheses concerning the rules children develop in learning pronouns were tested: (1) the person-role hypothesis (Charney, 1980), (2) the speech-role hypothesis (Clark, 1978), and (3) the name hypothesis (Clark, 1978). An analysis of children's pronominal confusion when they were addressed listeners as well as when they were non-addressed listeners was performed. The results indicated that the mastery of pronouns did not follow the developmental sequence predicted by the speech-role hypothesis; they provided evidence for the person-role hypothesis only when children were speakers, and partially supported the name hypothesis. The data also suggested that pronominal confusion is not a rare phenomenon among children tested in a non-addressee context. Finally, effects of child gender and native language were observed. Possible interpretations of the data are discussed

Cognition · Comprehension · Confusion · Developmental psychology · Language acquisition · Language development · Linguistics · Personal pronoun · Psycholinguistics · Language Development and Disorders · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development