The effect of language on generic knowledge understanding and source reliability: A developmental study

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of grammaticalized markers of genericity and evidentiality on children’s understanding of generalizability of knowledge and source reliability. It explored whether children generalize information conveyed by a statement marked with the Turkish generic marker -DIr and the evidential marker - mIş/-(y)mIş, and whether this is related to their evaluations of the inferential and the hearsay functions of the evidential form in terms of reliability. For this purpose, a between subjects design was used to test generalizability in the inferential -mIş, hearsay -(y)mIş and generic -DIr conditions, and a within subjects design was used to test source reliability. Children’s Theory-of-Mind skills and language competencies were also investigated. A total of 96 monolingual Turkish children, 4-year-olds (N = 48, 20 girls) and 6-year-olds (N = 48, 29 girls) participated in the study. Results showed that 4-year-olds generalized information more when it was conveyed with the generic -DIr and did not generalize when it was conveyed with either the inferential or the hearsay uses of -mIş/-(y)mIş. However, 6-year-olds generalized the information in all cases. Both 4- and 6-year-olds attributed higher reliability to inferences based on partial observable evidence than to information based on hearsay. Older children attributed higher reliability to inferences than younger children. No significant interaction between source reliability and generalization of information was found. Children who displayed correct understanding of Knowledge Access component of Theory-of-Mind skills were found to attribute higher reliability to inference, but no relation was found with False-Belief understanding.