Executive Functions and Sociocognitive Abilities in Natural Metalanguage

Abstract

Reported speech is a natural metalinguistic skill, where the speaker uses language as both an object of thought and a vehicle of communication, with the aim of quoting alienated utterances. In this chapter, a constructivist approach is used to review the involvement of executive functions in the production and comprehension of this linguistic technique, with a special focus on its development in child language. The change of mental spaces involved in any reported speech clause requires a load on executive functions, as well as the involvement of other higher-order socio-cognitive skills to conjugate perspective conflicts.