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Satisfying inquisitive adults: some simple methods of answering yes/no questions*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Margaret S. Steffensen
Margaret S. Steffensen
Affiliation:
Center for the Study of Reading, Urbana
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Abstract

The development of two children's responses to yes/no questions is studied longitudinally. It will be proposed that the children realize that they must verbalize, but do not understand the semantics of the question form or the affirmative and negative particles. Their answers are not appropriate by the conventions of adult speech. In this situation, each child develops his own system, a phenomenon to be called PRAGMATIC VARIATION. Head nodding and shaking show a pattern of development comparable to that of the verbal responses. The options available to children acquiring English are discussed.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , June 1978 , pp. 221 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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Footnotes

[*]

This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, grant NSF GS 36253. I wish to thank Charles Read and Basil Sansom for some helpful comments they made onan earlier version of this paper. Author's address: Center for the Study of Reading, 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, Illinois 61820.

References

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