Processus d'inférence dans le traitement des phrases par l'enfant d'âge préscolaire

Abstract

Summary : A study of inference in sentence processing by three to six year old children. Some results of an experiment, in which three to six year old children had to repeat and comment on some elementary sentences, allow us to hypothesise about the genetical evolution of the processing of presuppositions and pragmatical implications. The inference from the focus to the presupposed, is a process which goes from one fact to another which occurred earlier in time. Therefore, there is a conflict between two types of sentence directionality : an inferential one and a temporal one. The resolution of such a conflict, which needs a certain level of mastery of the language, does not appear before five years. At six years, with the appearance of a metalinguistic activity, the child becomes able to place himself within the framework defined by the presupposition ; the temporal directionality is considered in the second instance. This lag between the two processes may be at the origin of mistakes in the interpretation of the sentences by the child. Since implication is a process which temporally agrees with the sequence of facts, it can easily occur in very young children. Key words : language development, pragmatical implication, presupposition.