Functions of Language - Volume 30, Issue 3, 2023

Abstract

This study analyzes the L1-acquisition of discourse like and its pragmatic functions in American English based on the Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development component of the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES). The data show that discourse like is already present in the speech of 3- and 4-year-old children and that even very young children employ like to perform distinct pragmatic functions with specifying uses being dominant until age 8;5. The analysis also shows a notable increase in discourse like as children mature, mainly driven by an increase in attention-directing like, the dominant function of discourse like among children older than 8;5. Conditional inference trees show that the use of discourse like by children is affected by a child’s age, the situation type and the frequency of discourse like in caregivers’ input. Children younger than 7;10 use discourse like only rarely in formal contexts as well as in informal contexts if their caregivers do not use discourse like frequently. However, children use discourse like substantially more if they are older than 7;10 or, in informal contexts, when their caregivers use discourse like frequently. The changes in frequency and the functional shifts in the use of like around the ages of 7 to 9 is interpreted to show that peers become more important as linguistic role models when children enter school. The results thus substantiate research which suggests that the pragmatic and social meanings of discourse markers are learned alongside linguistic constraints rather than after the form has been acquired.

Abstract

Nung (Tai, Kra-Dai) is a numeral-classifier language that contains the Classifier-Noun (cl-n, or ‘bare classifier’) construction. Drawing on Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar (Langacker 1987, 2004, 2008, 2017) (CG), I argue that the use of a Nung cl-n phrase is only possible when it refers to a unique instance in the current discourse frame of the current discourse space. This explains why cl-n phrases show a definite-like meaning contrast with other types of nominal phrases (NPs) in Nung, as well as why Nung cl-n phrases can be interpreted as either specific or non-specific indefinite. This paper makes two theoretical contributions. Firstly, it shows that the existing theory of numeral classifiers within CG, which is based on the unitization function of numeral classifiers, is not sufficient to account for the meaning contrast between cl-n and other types of NP in Nung. Secondly, given that a referent that exists in the current discourse frame need not exist in the actual world or pre-exist in the discourse, this paper illustrates how a referent can satisfy a presupposition of uniqueness without satisfying a presupposition of existence in the actual world or in the discourse.

Abstract

This study investigates how integrated egocentric and environmental reference frames influence direction determination and cardinal direction judgments in L1 speakers of Mongolian and Mandarin. The results show that in direction determination, Mandarin participants’ integrated frame of reference is “front-north, back-south, left-west, and right-east.” By contrast, Mongolian participants use two modes of integrated spatial representation: “front-south, back-north, left-east, and right-west” and “front-north, back-south, left-west, and right-east”. This behavior points to influences from the participants’ dominant and non-dominant languages. Mongolian and Mandarin participants showed a north advantage in cardinal direction judgment tasks with a “front-north” response configuration. Whereas Mandarin participants consistently showed a north advantage effect, Mongolian participants showed a south advantage effect in the “front-south” configuration. This suggests that in addition to the long-recognized difference in north-south/east-west axis preference, a north-south axis specification where south was the normative direction instead of north can result from cultural and linguistic influence. The results corroborate the idea that language affects the integration of spatial reference frames, lending support to linguistic relativism.

This article reviews Abstract concepts and the embodied mind: Rethinking grounded cognition9780190061975

This article reviews Multimodal communication in young multilingual children: Learning beyond words9781800413337

This article reviews Korean grammar: A systemic functional approach978-1-316-51534-1