This thesis investigates how children learn the first and the second person pronouns in English. In the first phase two cross sectional studies, which examined production and comprehension in children between 16 months and 36 months of ages, were conducted to determine what types of hypotheses children entertain about the semantic rules of the pronouns. In the second phase an intervention experiment was conducted to determine whether children benefit from observing speech not addressed to them for discovering the correct rules. This hypothesis was evaluated by comparing the effects of two different intervention programs: One providing children with opportunities to observe the shifting reference of personal pronouns in speech addressed to others and the other not providing such opportunities. The results suggest that even children under two years old can learn the correct rules of personal pronouns from speech not addressed to them.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.71959 |
| Date | January 1985 |
| Creators | Oshima-Takane, Yuriko. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 000220752, proquestno: AAINL20818, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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