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The Development of Simile Comprehension: From Similarity to Scalar Implicature
Author(s) -
Long Madeleine,
Shukla Vishakha,
RubioFernandez Paula
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13507
Subject(s) - implicature , simile , similarity (geometry) , psychology , comprehension , girl , developmental psychology , communication , linguistics , metaphor , artificial intelligence , pragmatics , computer science , philosophy , image (mathematics)
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.