Discourse competence of young children

In 2006-2007 I carried out an experimental project on the discourse competence of preschool children. This project demonstrated that the linguistic competence underlying the encoding of information is in place from at least 2;6 years of age. This includes the ability to identify and encode topics, and the use of definiteness and structural distinctions for reference establishment and maintenance. Children's 'errors' were shown to be caused by cognitive (rather than linguistic) limitations. This research was funded by the AHRC, under the speculative scheme (£72,288). The Research Assistant on this project was Dr. Cécile Brich.