Serratrice, L and De Cat, C orcid.org/0000-0003-0044-0527 (2020) Individual differences in the production of referential expressions: The effect of language proficiency, language exposure and executive function in bilingual and monolingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23 (2). pp. 371-386. ISSN 1366-7289
Abstract
One hundred and seventy-two English-speaking 5- to 7-year-olds participated in a referential communication task where we manipulated the linguistic mention and the visual presence of a competitor alongside a target referent. Eighty-seven of the children were additionally exposed to a language other than English (bilinguals). We measured children’s language proficiency, verbal working memory (WM), cognitive control skills, family SES, and relative amount of cumulative exposure and use of the home language for the bilinguals. Children’s use of full Noun Phrases (NPs) to identify a target referent was predicted by the visual presence of a competitor more than by its linguistic mention. Verbal WM and proficiency predicted NP use, while cognitive control skills predicted both the ability to use expressions signalling discourse integration and sensitivity to the presence of a discourse competitor, but not of a visual competitor. Bilingual children were as informative as monolingual children once proficiency was controlled for.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019, Cambridge University Press. This article has been published in a revised form in Bilingualism: Language and Cognition https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728918000962. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. |
Keywords: | referential choice; anaphora; individual differences; cognitive control; gradient bilingualism |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Languages Cultures & Societies (Leeds) > Linguistics & Phonetics (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Leverhulme Trust RPG-2012-633 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 11 Sep 2018 09:33 |
Last Modified: | 30 Mar 2020 14:50 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1017/S1366728918000962 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:135553 |