Preschoolers' use of analogies in referential communication

Abstract

In referential communication tasks, preschoolers' messages often fail. Children appear to produce `nonconventional' messages involving `idiosyncratic' or `private' meanings. The aim of this study was to examine whether some nonconventional messages are analogies that function to permit children to communicate in the absence of possessing a conventional name for an intended referent. In Experiment 1, 4- and 5-year-olds were presented a classical referential communication task consisting of `easy-' and `difficult-to-name' sets of items. As predicted, children at both ages produced conventional messages to refer to `easy' stimuli and analogies to refer to the `difficult' stimuli. A second experiment ruled out the possibility that the use of analogies was in fact due to an erroneous categorization of the target stimulus. Together, the results demonstrate that analogical renaming does not stem from an erroneous categorization of the referent but instead may serve as a purposeful communicative strategy.