Attitude verbs, such as think, want, and know, describe internal mental states that leave few
cues as to their meanings in the physical world. Consequently, their acquisition requires …

Human communication requires impressive inferential abilities and mind-reading skills. To
learn how to speak and become competent communicators children need both. The …

How do children learn the meanings of propositional attitude verbs? We argue that children
use information contained in both syntactic distribution and pragmatic function to zero in on …

Any form of overt communication, be it gestural or linguistic, involves pragmatic skills. This
article investigates the social–cognitive foundations of pragmatic development from infancy …

Classic studies suggest that metaphor production and comprehension are relatively late
develo** pragmatic skills, although it is not quite clear why this should be so. This chapter …

The distinction between literal and figurative use is well-known and embedded in 'folk
linguistics'. According to folk linguistics, figurative uses deviate from literal ones. But recent …

This paper explores two classic problems at the semantics-pragmatics interface from a
learner's perspective. First, the meaning that speakers convey often goes beyond the literal …

This Element explores the role of pragmatics, and its relationship with meaning and
grammar, in second language acquisition. Specifically, this Element examines the …

Little is known about presuppositional skills in pre-school years. Developmental research
has mostly focused on children's understanding of too and evidence is mixed: some studies …

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