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Children's Developing Intuitions About the Truth Conditions and Implications of Novel Generics Versus Quantified Statements

dc.contributor.authorBrandone, Amanda C.en_US
dc.contributor.authorGelman, Susan A.en_US
dc.contributor.authorHedglen, Jennaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2015-05-04T20:36:31Z
dc.date.available2016-07-05T17:27:59Zen
dc.date.issued2015-05en_US
dc.identifier.citationBrandone, Amanda C.; Gelman, Susan A.; Hedglen, Jenna (2015). "Children's Developing Intuitions About the Truth Conditions and Implications of Novel Generics Versus Quantified Statements." Cognitive Science (4): 711-738.en_US
dc.identifier.issn0364-0213en_US
dc.identifier.issn1551-6709en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/111169
dc.description.abstractGeneric statements express generalizations about categories and present a unique semantic profile that is distinct from quantified statements. This paper reports two studies examining the development of children's intuitions about the semantics of generics and how they differ from statements quantified by all, most, and some. Results reveal that, like adults, preschoolers (a) recognize that generics have flexible truth conditions and are capable of representing a wide range of prevalence levels; and (b) interpret novel generics as having near‐universal prevalence implications. Results further show that by age 4, children are beginning to differentiate the meaning of generics and quantified statements; however, even 7‐ to 11‐year‐olds are not adultlike in their intuitions about the meaning of most‐quantified statements. Overall, these studies suggest that by preschool, children interpret generics in much the same way that adults do; however, mastery of the semantics of quantified statements follows a more protracted course.en_US
dc.publisherWiley Periodicals, Inc.en_US
dc.publisherAcademic Pressen_US
dc.subject.otherGeneric languageen_US
dc.subject.otherLanguage understandingen_US
dc.subject.otherLanguage acquisitionen_US
dc.subject.otherSemanticsen_US
dc.subject.otherCognitive developmenten_US
dc.subject.otherConceptsen_US
dc.titleChildren's Developing Intuitions About the Truth Conditions and Implications of Novel Generics Versus Quantified Statementsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.rights.robotsIndexNoFollowen_US
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevelNeurosciencesen_US
dc.subject.hlbtoplevelHealth Sciencesen_US
dc.description.peerreviewedPeer Revieweden_US
dc.description.bitstreamurlhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111169/1/cogs12176.pdf
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/cogs.12176en_US
dc.identifier.sourceCognitive Scienceen_US
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dc.owningcollnameInterdisciplinary and Peer-Reviewed


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