The development of speech acts
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Thea Cameron-Faulkner
Abstract
Children, like adults, use language to get things done. However, gaining an accurate picture of children’s development of communicative intent is challenging. While the behaviours used by children to express intent are external and thus to some degree measurable, the underlying psychological characterisation of intent is much more elusive. Speech act analysis involves identifying the goal behind a speaker’s utterance, gesture or sign, and provides a useful starting point for the analysis of communicative intent during both the pre-linguistic and linguistic stage. In the current chapter we begin by discussing the origins of Speech Act Theory and its relevance to child language development. We then discuss the emergence of speech acts in the language of young children, and also the relationship between form and function from a Speech Act perspective.
Abstract
Children, like adults, use language to get things done. However, gaining an accurate picture of children’s development of communicative intent is challenging. While the behaviours used by children to express intent are external and thus to some degree measurable, the underlying psychological characterisation of intent is much more elusive. Speech act analysis involves identifying the goal behind a speaker’s utterance, gesture or sign, and provides a useful starting point for the analysis of communicative intent during both the pre-linguistic and linguistic stage. In the current chapter we begin by discussing the origins of Speech Act Theory and its relevance to child language development. We then discuss the emergence of speech acts in the language of young children, and also the relationship between form and function from a Speech Act perspective.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- The communicative infant from 0-18 months 13
- The development of speech acts 37
- Turn-taking 53
- Conversation Analysis and pragmatic development 71
- Ontogenetic Constraints on Grice’s Theory of Communication 87
- Two Pragmatic Principles in Language Use and Acquisition 105
- Learning conventions and conventionality through conversation 121
- The pragmatics of word learning 139
- The production and comprehension of referring expressions 161
- Scalar Implicature 183
- Children’s pragmatic use of prosodic prominence 199
- The Pragmatic Development of Humor 219
- “The elevator’s buttocks” 239
- Irony production and comprehension 261
- Narrative Development across Cultural Contexts 279
- Children’s understanding of linguistic expressions of certainty and evidentiality 295
- Crosslinguistic and crosscultural approaches to pragmatic development 317
- Atypical pragmatic development 343
- Assessing pragmatic language functioning in young children 363
- Developmental pragmatics 387
- Index 393
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- The communicative infant from 0-18 months 13
- The development of speech acts 37
- Turn-taking 53
- Conversation Analysis and pragmatic development 71
- Ontogenetic Constraints on Grice’s Theory of Communication 87
- Two Pragmatic Principles in Language Use and Acquisition 105
- Learning conventions and conventionality through conversation 121
- The pragmatics of word learning 139
- The production and comprehension of referring expressions 161
- Scalar Implicature 183
- Children’s pragmatic use of prosodic prominence 199
- The Pragmatic Development of Humor 219
- “The elevator’s buttocks” 239
- Irony production and comprehension 261
- Narrative Development across Cultural Contexts 279
- Children’s understanding of linguistic expressions of certainty and evidentiality 295
- Crosslinguistic and crosscultural approaches to pragmatic development 317
- Atypical pragmatic development 343
- Assessing pragmatic language functioning in young children 363
- Developmental pragmatics 387
- Index 393
