Abstract:
This paper investigates preschool children's errors in their use of definite vs. indefinite
determiners to encode the newness of referents.
It focuses on so-called “egocentric errors” (whereby a definite is used
for a referent not previously introduced in the discourse) and explores
possible cognitive sources for such errors.
45 children acquiring French as their first language (between the ages
of 2;6.22 and 5;6.15) were made to perform two tests: a picture-based
story-elicitation task and a Theory of Mind (ToM) test. The latter aimed to evaluate their ability to
perceive differences between their own perspective and that of their addressee. No straightforward correlation was found
between the rate of egocentric errors and performance on the ToM test, suggesting
that egocentric errors cannot be due simply to children's inability to
appreciate that their listener can have a different perspective to their own.
It is suggested that ToM development could nonetheless be one among several
factors conspiring (perhaps indirectly) to the production of egocentric
errors. Other likely factors are (i)
preschool children's tendency to monitor insufficiently the difference in
perspective between themselves and their
addressee – something which adults are also found to do, but to a much lesser
extent – and (ii) their over-reliance on the visual context.
Journal of Pragmatics, Volume 56, September 2013, Pages 58-69 (pdf)