How do 5-year-olds understand questions? Differences in languages across Europe
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2016
Authors
Sauerland, UliGrohmann, Kleanthes K.
Guasti, Maria Teresa
Anđelković, Darinka
Argus, Reili
Armon-Lotem, Sharon
Arosio, Fabrizio
Avram, Larisa
Costa, João
Dabašinskienė, Ineta
de López, Kristine
Gatt, Daniela
Grech, Helen
Haman, Ewa
Van Hout, Angeliek
Hržica, Gordana
Kainhofer, Judith
Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė, Laura
Kunnari, Sari
Kovačević, Melita
Kuvač Kraljević, Jelena
Lipowska, Katarzyna
Mejias, Sandrine
Popović, Maša
Ruzaite, Jurate
Savić, Maja
Sevcenco, Anca
Varlokosta, Spyridoula
Varnava, Marina
Yatsushiro, Kazuko
Article (Published version)
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© The Author(s) 2016, © SAGE Publications
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The comprehension of constituent questions is an important topic for language acquisition
research and for applications in the diagnosis of language impairment. This article presents
the results of a study investigating the comprehension of different types of questions
by 5-year-old, typically developing children across 19 European countries, 18 different
languages, and 7 language (sub-)families. The study investigated the effects of two factors
on question formation: (a) whether the question contains a simple interrogative word like
‘who’ or a complex one like ‘which princess’, and (b) whether the question word was related
to the sentential subject or object position of the verb. The findings show that there is
considerable variation among languages, but the two factors mentioned consistently affect
children’s performance. The cross-linguistic variation shows that three linguistic factors
facilitate children’s understanding of questions: having overt case morphology, having ...a
single lexical item for both ‘who’ and ‘which’, and the use of synthetic verbal forms.
Keywords:
agreement / case / comprehension / cross-linguistic / questions / syntax / wh-phrasesSource:
First Language Volume, 2016, 36, 3, 169-202Publisher:
- SAGE Publications
Funding / projects:
- European Cooperation in Science and Technology Action A33 “Cross-Linguistically Robust Stages of Children’s Linguistic Performance”
- UK, IT, DE, RO, LT, and BE: European Union, CLAD 135295-LLP-2007- UK-KA1SCR
- NL, DE, IT: Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), grant 236-78-001
- AT: Austrian Science Fund (FWF), grant P 20464-G15
- DE: German Research Council (DFG), grant SA 925/1-4, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), grant 01UG1411
- Danish Agency for Science and Technology and Innovation (FKK), grant 09-063957
- FI: Academy of Finland
- PL: Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, grant 809/N-COST/2010/0, Faculty of Psychology University of Warsaw, grant BST No. 1445/2009
- Fundamental cognitive processes and functions (RS-MESTD-Basic Research (BR or ON)-179033)
DOI: 10.1177/0142723716640236
ISSN: 0142-7237; Online ISSN: 1740-2344
WoS: 000380908900002
Scopus: 2-s2.0-84974800837
Institution/Community
Psihologija / PsychologyTY - JOUR AU - Sauerland, Uli AU - Grohmann, Kleanthes K. AU - Guasti, Maria Teresa AU - Anđelković, Darinka AU - Argus, Reili AU - Armon-Lotem, Sharon AU - Arosio, Fabrizio AU - Avram, Larisa AU - Costa, João AU - Dabašinskienė, Ineta AU - de López, Kristine AU - Gatt, Daniela AU - Grech, Helen AU - Haman, Ewa AU - Van Hout, Angeliek AU - Hržica, Gordana AU - Kainhofer, Judith AU - Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė, Laura AU - Kunnari, Sari AU - Kovačević, Melita AU - Kuvač Kraljević, Jelena AU - Lipowska, Katarzyna AU - Mejias, Sandrine AU - Popović, Maša AU - Ruzaite, Jurate AU - Savić, Maja AU - Sevcenco, Anca AU - Varlokosta, Spyridoula AU - Varnava, Marina AU - Yatsushiro, Kazuko PY - 2016 UR - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/4630 AB - The comprehension of constituent questions is an important topic for language acquisition research and for applications in the diagnosis of language impairment. This article presents the results of a study investigating the comprehension of different types of questions by 5-year-old, typically developing children across 19 European countries, 18 different languages, and 7 language (sub-)families. The study investigated the effects of two factors on question formation: (a) whether the question contains a simple interrogative word like ‘who’ or a complex one like ‘which princess’, and (b) whether the question word was related to the sentential subject or object position of the verb. The findings show that there is considerable variation among languages, but the two factors mentioned consistently affect children’s performance. The cross-linguistic variation shows that three linguistic factors facilitate children’s understanding of questions: having overt case morphology, having a single lexical item for both ‘who’ and ‘which’, and the use of synthetic verbal forms. PB - SAGE Publications T2 - First Language Volume T1 - How do 5-year-olds understand questions? Differences in languages across Europe EP - 202 IS - 3 SP - 169 VL - 36 DO - 10.1177/0142723716640236 ER -
@article{ author = "Sauerland, Uli and Grohmann, Kleanthes K. and Guasti, Maria Teresa and Anđelković, Darinka and Argus, Reili and Armon-Lotem, Sharon and Arosio, Fabrizio and Avram, Larisa and Costa, João and Dabašinskienė, Ineta and de López, Kristine and Gatt, Daniela and Grech, Helen and Haman, Ewa and Van Hout, Angeliek and Hržica, Gordana and Kainhofer, Judith and Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė, Laura and Kunnari, Sari and Kovačević, Melita and Kuvač Kraljević, Jelena and Lipowska, Katarzyna and Mejias, Sandrine and Popović, Maša and Ruzaite, Jurate and Savić, Maja and Sevcenco, Anca and Varlokosta, Spyridoula and Varnava, Marina and Yatsushiro, Kazuko", year = "2016", abstract = "The comprehension of constituent questions is an important topic for language acquisition research and for applications in the diagnosis of language impairment. This article presents the results of a study investigating the comprehension of different types of questions by 5-year-old, typically developing children across 19 European countries, 18 different languages, and 7 language (sub-)families. The study investigated the effects of two factors on question formation: (a) whether the question contains a simple interrogative word like ‘who’ or a complex one like ‘which princess’, and (b) whether the question word was related to the sentential subject or object position of the verb. The findings show that there is considerable variation among languages, but the two factors mentioned consistently affect children’s performance. The cross-linguistic variation shows that three linguistic factors facilitate children’s understanding of questions: having overt case morphology, having a single lexical item for both ‘who’ and ‘which’, and the use of synthetic verbal forms.", publisher = "SAGE Publications", journal = "First Language Volume", title = "How do 5-year-olds understand questions? Differences in languages across Europe", pages = "202-169", number = "3", volume = "36", doi = "10.1177/0142723716640236" }
Sauerland, U., Grohmann, K. K., Guasti, M. T., Anđelković, D., Argus, R., Armon-Lotem, S., Arosio, F., Avram, L., Costa, J., Dabašinskienė, I., de López, K., Gatt, D., Grech, H., Haman, E., Van Hout, A., Hržica, G., Kainhofer, J., Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė, L., Kunnari, S., Kovačević, M., Kuvač Kraljević, J., Lipowska, K., Mejias, S., Popović, M., Ruzaite, J., Savić, M., Sevcenco, A., Varlokosta, S., Varnava, M.,& Yatsushiro, K.. (2016). How do 5-year-olds understand questions? Differences in languages across Europe. in First Language Volume SAGE Publications., 36(3), 169-202. https://doi.org/10.1177/0142723716640236
Sauerland U, Grohmann KK, Guasti MT, Anđelković D, Argus R, Armon-Lotem S, Arosio F, Avram L, Costa J, Dabašinskienė I, de López K, Gatt D, Grech H, Haman E, Van Hout A, Hržica G, Kainhofer J, Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė L, Kunnari S, Kovačević M, Kuvač Kraljević J, Lipowska K, Mejias S, Popović M, Ruzaite J, Savić M, Sevcenco A, Varlokosta S, Varnava M, Yatsushiro K. How do 5-year-olds understand questions? Differences in languages across Europe. in First Language Volume. 2016;36(3):169-202. doi:10.1177/0142723716640236 .
Sauerland, Uli, Grohmann, Kleanthes K., Guasti, Maria Teresa, Anđelković, Darinka, Argus, Reili, Armon-Lotem, Sharon, Arosio, Fabrizio, Avram, Larisa, Costa, João, Dabašinskienė, Ineta, de López, Kristine, Gatt, Daniela, Grech, Helen, Haman, Ewa, Van Hout, Angeliek, Hržica, Gordana, Kainhofer, Judith, Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė, Laura, Kunnari, Sari, Kovačević, Melita, Kuvač Kraljević, Jelena, Lipowska, Katarzyna, Mejias, Sandrine, Popović, Maša, Ruzaite, Jurate, Savić, Maja, Sevcenco, Anca, Varlokosta, Spyridoula, Varnava, Marina, Yatsushiro, Kazuko, "How do 5-year-olds understand questions? Differences in languages across Europe" in First Language Volume, 36, no. 3 (2016):169-202, https://doi.org/10.1177/0142723716640236 . .