Beal C R, Flavell J H
Child Dev. 1984 Jun;55(3):920-8.
Children's ability to distinguish the literal meaning of a message and the speaker's communicative intent was investigated in 2 experiments. First- and second-grade children evaluated brief referential communication messages for ambiguity under 2 conditions. In an informed condition, the children knew which referent the speaker had intended. In an uninformed condition, they did not know the intended referent. 2 communication systems were used. In Experiment 1, the messages were written on cards and read to the child; in Experiment 2, a novel communication system was used. The developmental pattern of results was similar for both studies. The results showed that the first graders in the informed condition often claimed that an ambiguous message could not refer to a referent the speaker had not meant, whereas children in the uninformed condition were able to detect the referential ambiguity of the message. There were no condition differences for the second graders. The results suggest that young children's ability to analyze the literal meaning of a message is affected by the accessibility of the speaker's communicative intent and that children may develop a general ability to analyze representations of communicative intention.
通过两项实验研究了儿童区分信息字面意义和说话者交际意图的能力。一年级和二年级的儿童在两种条件下评估简短的指称性交流信息是否具有歧义性。在知情条件下，儿童知道说话者意图指向的是哪个指称对象。在不知情条件下，他们不知道意图指向的指称对象。使用了两种交流系统。在实验1中，信息写在卡片上并读给儿童听；在实验2中，使用了一种新颖的交流系统。两项研究的结果发展模式相似。结果表明，在知情条件下的一年级学生常常声称模棱两可的信息不可能指说话者并非意图指向的指称对象，而在不知情条件下的儿童能够察觉到信息的指称歧义性。二年级学生在两种条件下没有差异。结果表明，幼儿分析信息字面意义的能力受说话者交际意图可及性的影响，并且儿童可能会发展出一种分析交际意图表征的一般能力。
