LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 17:11 November 2017
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

Language in India www.languageinindia.com is included in the UGC Approved List of Journals. Serial Number 49042.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2016
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

Pragmatic Comprehension of Different Types of Questions in Tamil

AmudhuSankar, MASLP
VaidyanathanRaghunathan, Ph.D. in Linguistics
Prakash Boominathan, Ph.D. in Speech & Hearing
Usha Rani A., Ph.D. in Linguistics

Abstract

This study discusses the comprehension of questions in Tamil speaking children. The participants were 315 typically developing children in the age range of 5;1 to 9;0 years of age. Each child was assessed individually using material that consisted of pictorial short scenarios and stories that had specific probe questions. The language samples were analyzed and percentage of correct responses was calculated for various types of questions. The ranking order of various types of questions was obtained. The results indicated that as children grew older, they were able to answer complex contextual questions. The “yes or no” question exhibited highest rank and “why” question had the lowest rank order in children between 5;1-9;0 years. Relevance theory has been utilized in this study to explore the pragmatic comprehension abilities of children in relation to varied contextual complexity of different question types. The results obtained can be employed in clinical setting to evaluate the pragmatic status of children with language disorders.

Keywords: Pragmatics, Comprehension of questions, Relevance theory, Tamil children

Introduction

Children use different types of questions in everyday situations when they communicate with peers as well with others. They also use their linguistic knowledge to comprehend the pragmatic intentions in question of others. ‘Questions’ are special speech acts where speaker uses them to obtain specific information from listeners, and the listener provides the requested information to the speaker. Analysis of questions produced by children provides information about semantic/conceptual, syntactic, and pragmatic development. Semantically, questions are used to indicate literal meaning (Bach, 1999), and to know about the conceptual knowledge. Syntactically, questions are viewed as individual units with varied distinctive features and word order where each question has both subject and object form (Dekker, Aloni, & Butler, 2007). Wh-questions tap both grammatical and pragmatic aspects of language.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.


Ms. Amudhu Sankar, MASLP, Corresponding author
Assistant Professor
Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
Sri Ramachandra University, Porur
Chennai -600116
Tamilnadu
India
amudhuslp@sriramachandra.edu.in

Dr. Vaidyanathan Raghunathan, PhD in Linguistics
Professor in Linguistics (Visiting)
Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
Sri Ramachandra University, Porur
Chennai -600116
Tamilnadu
India
raguvai@yahoo.com

Dr. Prakash Boominathan, PhD in Speech & Hearing,
Professor
Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
Sri Ramachandra University, Porur
Chennai -600116
Tamilnadu
India
prakash_boominathan@sriramachandra.edu.in

Dr. Usha Rani A, PhD in Linguistics
Professor in Linguistics
Osmania University
Hyderabad
Telangana
ushaou@yahoo.com
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.