The Development of Simile Comprehension: From Similarity to Scalar Implicature

Similes require two different pragmatic skills: appreciating the intended similarity and deriving a scalar implicature (e.g., “Lucy is like a parrot” normally implies that Lucy is not a parrot), but previous studies overlooked this second skill. In Experiment 1, preschoolers ( N  = 48; ages 3–5) understood “X is like a Y” as an expression of similarity. In Experiment 2 ( N  = 99; ages 3–6, 13) and Experiment 3 ( N  = 201; ages 3–5 and adults), participants received metaphors (“Lucy is a parrot”) or similes (“Lucy is like a parrot”) as clues to select one of three images (a parrot, a girl or a parrot‐looking girl). An early developmental trend revealed that 3‐year‐olds started deriving the implicature “X is not a Y,” whereas 5‐year‐olds performed like adults.