A Developmental Study of Children's Comprehension of Negation in Complex Sentences Involving Clauses

Abstract

Phinncy (1981) proposed that children employ an S-attachnient rule to interpret negation in complex embedded sentences such as “Fred knew that Mary didn't go to the party.” The present study examined the effect of age on children's interpretation of negation in such sentences. Children in four age groups (5 years to 6 years, 11 months; 7 years to 8 years, 11 months: 9 years to 10 years, 11 months; and 11 years to 12 years, 11 months) were presented with complex embedded sentences one at a time and were required to answer two questions concerning each of the test sentences. The results indicate that children consistently adopt an S-attachment rule by the age of 12 years. 11 months. No sex difference was found.