Learning among family and friends

Developmental Pragmatics: Overview

This section contains theoretical and empirical information on the acquisition of pragmatics by monolingual and bilingual children at different stages of pragmatic development. Audio and video samples of children communicating pragmatic intent include:

• language use conventions
  • greetings
  • requesting
  • disagreeing
  • apologizing
  • complaining
• expressing polite or impolite behavior
• turn-taking in conversation.

Audio and video samples come from everyday conversations in natural settings with family and friends. To select an area of developmental pragmatics to explore, use the dropdown menus in the navigation bar above.