Production and comprehension of rhetorical questions in the acquisition of Italian as a first language
(2025) In Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics- Abstract
- This paper investigates the acquisition of rhetorical questions (RhQs) in
monolingual children acquiring Italian, comparing the comprehension and
production of RhQs based on their optional lexical, morphosyntactic, and
prosodic cues. We show that 6-to-9-year-old children are in the process of
acquiring the use of optional lexical and morphosyntactic markers in produc-
tion (e.g. discourse particles, information structure), but only 9-year-olds
show adult-like patterns. In comprehension, children from age 7 were able
to consistently recognize RhQs through a combination of prosodic and
lexico-syntactic cues, but only some children were able to do so based on
prosody alone. Furthermore, the production... (More) - This paper investigates the acquisition of rhetorical questions (RhQs) in
monolingual children acquiring Italian, comparing the comprehension and
production of RhQs based on their optional lexical, morphosyntactic, and
prosodic cues. We show that 6-to-9-year-old children are in the process of
acquiring the use of optional lexical and morphosyntactic markers in produc-
tion (e.g. discourse particles, information structure), but only 9-year-olds
show adult-like patterns. In comprehension, children from age 7 were able
to consistently recognize RhQs through a combination of prosodic and
lexico-syntactic cues, but only some children were able to do so based on
prosody alone. Furthermore, the production frequency of lexico-syntactic
markers correlated with accuracy in the comprehension task when a lexico-
syntactic marker was involved. Our results suggest that the acquisition of
RhQs and their pragmatic marking is still ongoing throughout the primary
school years, in line with other phenomena at the interface between di er-
ent modules of language, pragmatics, and communicative competence. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/cfac91bb-c365-42fd-be45-4ba1a29aa5ab
- author
- Ferin, Maria Francesca and Kupisch, Tanja LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- rhetorical questions, Italian
- in
- Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics
- pages
- 22 pages
- publisher
- Psychology Press
- ISSN
- 1048-9223
- DOI
- 10.1080/10489223.2025.2479497
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- cfac91bb-c365-42fd-be45-4ba1a29aa5ab
- date added to LUP
- 2025-04-19 12:31:18
- date last changed
- 2025-05-12 15:01:07
@article{cfac91bb-c365-42fd-be45-4ba1a29aa5ab,
abstract = {{This paper investigates the acquisition of rhetorical questions (RhQs) in<br/>monolingual children acquiring Italian, comparing the comprehension and<br/>production of RhQs based on their optional lexical, morphosyntactic, and<br/>prosodic cues. We show that 6-to-9-year-old children are in the process of<br/>acquiring the use of optional lexical and morphosyntactic markers in produc-<br/>tion (e.g. discourse particles, information structure), but only 9-year-olds<br/>show adult-like patterns. In comprehension, children from age 7 were able<br/>to consistently recognize RhQs through a combination of prosodic and<br/>lexico-syntactic cues, but only some children were able to do so based on<br/>prosody alone. Furthermore, the production frequency of lexico-syntactic<br/>markers correlated with accuracy in the comprehension task when a lexico-<br/>syntactic marker was involved. Our results suggest that the acquisition of<br/>RhQs and their pragmatic marking is still ongoing throughout the primary<br/>school years, in line with other phenomena at the interface between di er-<br/>ent modules of language, pragmatics, and communicative competence.}},
author = {{Ferin, Maria Francesca and Kupisch, Tanja}},
issn = {{1048-9223}},
keywords = {{rhetorical questions; Italian}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Psychology Press}},
series = {{Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics}},
title = {{Production and comprehension of rhetorical questions in the acquisition of Italian as a first language}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10489223.2025.2479497}},
doi = {{10.1080/10489223.2025.2479497}},
year = {{2025}},
}