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Discussing those not present: comprehension of references to absent caregivers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2004

MEGAN M. SAYLOR  and
DARE A. BALDWIN
MEGAN M. SAYLOR
Affiliation:
University of Oregon
DARE A. BALDWIN
Affiliation:
University of Oregon
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Abstract

The ability to understand references to the absent enables conversation to move beyond the here-and-now to matters distant in both space and time. Such understanding requires appreciating the relation between language and communicative intent: one must recognize speakers' intentions to use language to converge on a shared conversational focus that is at least somewhat independent of the current context. Despite its centrality to language development, the emergence of absent reference understanding has received little systematic attention. The present research investigated the responses of 60 infants aged 1;0 to 2;6 to a researcher talking about both present and absent caregivers. When infants aged 1;3 and older heard talk about absent caregivers they displayed a complex of nonverbal communicative responses that were divergent from their responses to talk about a present person. Infants aged 2;0 and older provided responses indicating understanding of absent reference. The findings suggest that by 1;3 infants may have at least a tacit appreciation of language as a device for coordinating conversational focus, and hint at increased sophistication in infants' absent reference comprehension skills at 2;0.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , August 2004 , pp. 537 - 560
Copyright
2004 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Portions of these data were presented at the October 2001 Biennial Cognitive Development Society meeting in Virginia Beach, VA and at the April 2002 International Conference for Infant Studies in Toronto, Canada. This research was conducted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Megan M. Saylor's doctoral degree at the University of Oregon and was supported in part by a dissertation research award from the University of Oregon, and grants from the John Merck Scholars Fund and the National Science Foundation (NYI award) to Dare A. Baldwin. Special thanks to Christine Adams, Robin Harris, Ryan Mustell, Benjamin Neely, Veronica Stotts, and Erica Yoshida for help with data coding and analysis, as well as to Jodie A. Baird, Louis J. Moses, Eric Pederson, and Marjorie Taylor for helpful comments about the research. Megan M. Saylor is now at Vanderbilt University.