COMPREHENDING COMPOUNDS - EVIDENCE FOR METAPHORIC SKILL

Previous studies of children's comprehension of compound nouns show th at three-year-olds can identify the appropriate referent for a compoun d when shown picture arrays that include salient distracters. The four studies presented here investigate comprehension of one kind of compo und, metaphoric compounds (i.e. noun-noun compounds in which one noun expresses similarity to another object, as in catfish). Forty-four thr ee-year-olds, 45 five-year-olds and 22 adults were shown a series of p icture arrays and were asked to identify referents of various types of metaphoric compounds. The arrays included target pictures that had me taphoric resemblances based on shape (e.g. bug shaped like a stick) or on colour/pattern (e.g. shells with black and white stripes, like a z ebra). Results showed that three- and five-year-olds can comprehend sh ape-based metaphoric compounds such as stick-bug, even when faced with salient distracters (e.g. a stick, a bug next to a stick). The younge r children had some difficulty with colour-based compounds, such as ze bra-shells. Overall, five-year-olds outperformed three-year-olds but p erformed significantly less well than adults. However, even at age 3, children did not show a general expectation to interpret the compounds literally.