Children's interpretation of generic noun phrases.
Abstract
Generic utterances (e.g., "Cows say 'moo'") have 2 distinctive semantic properties: (a) Generics are generally true, unlike indefinites (e.g., "Bears live in caves" is generic; "I saw some bears in the cave" is indefinite), and (b) generics need not be true of all category members, unlike universal quantifiers (e.g., all, every, each). This article examined whether preschool children and adults appreciate both these features, using a comprehension task (Study 1) and an elicited production task (Study 2). In both tasks, 4-year-old children--like adults--treated generics as distinct from both indefinites ("some") and universal quantifiers ("all"). In contrast, 3-year-olds did not differentiate among generics, "all," and "some." By 4 years of age, generics emerge as a distinct semantic device.
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Language can signal nongenericity in many different ways.
“Language can signal nongenericity in a rich variety of ways, and most prior research has provided a starker contrast between generic and nongeneric than was provided in study 2 (28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35).”
From Generic language in scientific communication (2019) · cites this paper as [29]
Most prior research provided a starker contrast between generic and nongeneric than study 2 did.
“Language can signal nongenericity in a rich variety of ways, and most prior research has provided a starker contrast between generic and nongeneric than was provided in study 2 (28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35).”
From Generic language in scientific communication (2019) · cites this paper as [29]
In the published literature, nongenerics typically manipulated the noun phrase itself, drawing attention more explicitly to the limited scope of the generalization.
“For example, whereas study 2 only manipulated tense, in the published literature, nongenerics typically manipulated the noun phrase itself (e.g.,”
From Generic language in scientific communication (2019) · cites this paper as [29]
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References 22 · Cited by 212
- Authors
- Hollander, M. A., Gelman, S. A., & Star, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Michigan State University (US)
- Venue
- Developmental Psychology
- Published
- 2002
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 883-894
- ISSN
- 0012-1649 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-0599
- OpenAlex
- W2080549410
- Cited by
- 212
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 20.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Developmental Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD-36043)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
- Keywords
- genericity, universal quantifiers, indefinite noun phrases, semantic development, preschool children, language comprehension, language production
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Child, Preschool, Concept Formation, Female, Humans, Language Development, Male, Problem Solving, Psycholinguistics, Semantics, Speech Perception
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