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Comprehension and production of adjectives and seriation*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Linnea C. Ehri
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis

Abstract

To explore adjective language development and to examine its relationship to seriation, several tasks were given to 40 children aged 4;0 to 8;0. Comprehension and production of various adjective forms were measured: vocabulary, coordination, comparison. The ability to order objects by size was used to assess intuitive-level seriation. In addition to yielding information about children's meanings and use of adjective forms, results indicated that vocabulary and comprehension were more important than language production for distinguishing senators from non-senators. The relevance of findings for Sinclair de Zwart's observations and for the Clarks' hypotheses about adjective development is discussed.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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