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The influence of discourse information on the comprehension of null-subject sentences in Korean children

Abstract

The current research explores Korean preschoolers' understanding of null-subject sentences using discourse information. The children listened to 4-sentence stories, while looking at pictures about the stories on a computer screen. In the last (target) sentence of each story, the subject was omitted and the referent of the omitted subject could be inferred from the preceding sentences. Both 5-years-old (Experiment 1) and 4-years-old (Experiment 2) children were likely to interpret omitted subjects as referring to the subject of the preceding sentence. This research is an initial attempt to investigate Korean preschoolers' sensitivity to discourse information when understanding ambiguous sentences in which the subject is omitted. The results will provide a foundation for further studies on the interplay between syntax and discourse in younger children's language comprehension.

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Submission Date
2008-07-15
Revised Date
2008-08-11
Accepted Date
2008-08-12

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