Pragmatic Language Development

Pragmatic language development is the development of the ability to use context to construct the meaning the speaker meant to communicate. In social situations we often rely on context to figure out what the speaker meant. For example, when we hear someone at a dinner table say "I need the salt," we rely on context to construct the meaning "Hand me the salt." Children younger than 2 do not normally have the skills to understand non-literal language use. Learning these skills is part of normal language development.

  1. Pragmatic Language

    • Pragmatic language includes indexical language, demonstrative language and non-literal language. Indexical language picks out different items in different speech situations without accompanying gestures. "I" picks out John when John utters it and Mary when Mary utters it. Demonstrative language is language used together with a gesture to pick out objects. "That" refers to a ball when used together with a gesture toward a ball but refers to a cup when used with a gesture toward a cup. Non-literal language is language that literally means one thing but communicates something else, such as metaphors, sarcasm and indirect requests for action.

    Piaget's Egocentrism Hypothesis

    • According to Piaget's egocentrism hypothesis, young children think in an egocentric way. They believe they are the center of the universe and fail to adopt the points of view of others. As we rely on our ability to adopt the point of view of others when we use and interpret pragmatic language, egocentrism affects children's ability to communicate in more sophisticated ways.

    Empirical Evidence for the Hypothesis

    • Numerous empirical studies confirm Piaget's egocentrism hypothesis. Children normally start to use personal and demonstrative pronouns competently at the age of 2, and at the age of 3 they can normally use and understand non-literal language. Children younger than 2 don't have the skills to shift their point of view. They therefore cannot accurately determine what pronouns refer to. For example, they are unaware that "she is tired" and "I am tired" can express the same meaning depending on who utters the sentence. To compensate, they tend to pick their own point of view or avoid pronouns altogether.

    Complicated Non-Literal Language Use

    • Children younger than 2 have problems with all kinds of non-literal language use. If Mom says to Amy, who is a normal 18-month-old, "Amy, I need your cup," Amy will not normally have the skills to reason that Mom is asking her to bring her the cup. If Mom wants Amy to act, she needs to be more direct, as in "Amy, give Mom your cup." Even older children have problems understanding more complicated forms of non-literal language use. For example, 8-year-olds have the ability to understand sarcasm on the basis of intonation, but in the absence of a sarcastic intonation, they cannot normally use even the most obvious contextual cues to figure out what the speaker meant.

    Pragmatic Language Impairment

    • Children with autism have difficulties with pragmatic uses of language, such as the interpretation of metaphors and indirect requests for action. This kind of impairment is one of the key diagnostic features of autism. Unlike other children, autistic children do not fully develop the skills to interpret what the world is like from other people's point of view. As social communication relies on exactly these kinds of skill, autistic children have a limited ability to communicate in social situations.

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