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Part of
(Non)referentiality in Conversation
Edited by Michael C. Ewing and Ritva Laury
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 344] 2024
► pp. 80–102

Chapter 5
Young children’s experience of referentiality and nonreferentiality in dialogue

 | Université du Québec à Montréal
 | Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
 | Université de Lorraine
 | Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
This chapter focuses on young children’s experience of referential and nonreferential uses of noun phrases (NPs) in everyday dialogues. Our study of a corpus of interactions between adults and children aged 1;10 to 2;6 showed that the indeterminacy and instability that might characterise children’s uses can also be found in adults’ discourse. Not only are (non)referential values co-constructed, but children are also not exposed to clear-cut contrasts between the uses or values of NPs. On the contrary, both in the adults’ discourse and in the way adults react to children’s utterances, they seem to experience the fact that noun phrases potentially present various facets, which can be successively or simultaneously activated in dialogue.
Keywords: dialogue, indeterminacy, labelling, language acquisition, noun phrases, referentiality
Article outline
  • 1.Referentiality and nonreferentiality
  • 2.(Non)referentiality in child language
  • 3.Studying (non)referentiality: Data and method of analysis
    • 3.1A corpus of adult-child interactions
    • 3.2Identifying dialogical sequences to examine (non)referentiality
  • 4.Adult uses of NPs in the ongoing dialogue
  • 5.Child uses of NPs: The role played by the preceding context
  • 6.The evolution of the values of NPs in dialogue
  • 7.Discussion
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 August 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.344.05lem
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