Expression of the given-new contrast in referential communication: A study of seven and nine year-old children.

Valérie Sauvaire (1) , Monique Vion (1)

1 CREPCO - Centre de Recherche en Psychologie Cognitive

Monolingual French-speaking children (7- and 9-year-old boys and girls) were asked to describe reversible events for peers. Addressees had some information about one of the two characters involved in each event, but this information was either restricted to the character's identity or extended to his/her semantic role (agent vs patient). The way speakers introduced each character and linked together given and new information for the addressee was studied. The linguistic devices used varied with the kind of information to be communicated. The way the speaker's discourse was formulated changed with age.

Mots clés: Language acquisition; given/new contrast; referential communication

Domaines: Psychologie et comportements

Valérie Sauvaire, Monique Vion. Expression of the given-new contrast in referential communication: A study of seven and nine year-old children.. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 1989, 9, pp.431-449. ⟨hal-00173548⟩