“Esta pobre oveja así tumbadica”: The use of adjetives in Spanish speaking children

Abstract

This study evaluated the production of adjectives in Spanish-speaking children based on three variables: age, sex, and semantic type. Adjectives can be classified according to two semantic types: subsective and intersective. Adjectives that describe size and quality (e.g., large, small, thin) are known as subsective. To interpret the meaning of a subsective adjective, speakers have to know the prototypical properties of the object it modifies. In contrast, an intersective adjective (e.g., red, Italian) does not require speakers to know the properties of the object to assign an interpretation to it. We analyzed data from the CHILDES computerized database (MacWhinney, 2000). We selected 93 children aged 3 to 10 years. Children were split into three development stages: early childhood (3; 0-4; 1), middle childhood (6; 1-7; 11), and late childhood (9; 1-10; 9). The results suggest that the age, but not the sex, of the child predicts adjective diversity. We also found that the prevalence of one or another semantic type is associated with both the age and sex of the child.