Pragmatic Comprehension of Different Types of Questions in Tamil

Abstract

This study discusses the comprehension of questions in Tamil speaking children. The participants were 315 typically developing children in the age range of 5;1 to 9;0 years of age. Each child was assessed individually using material that consisted of pictorial short scenarios and stories that had specific probe questions. The language samples were analyzed and percentage of correct responses was calculated for various types of questions. The ranking order of various types of questions was obtained. The results indicated that as children grew older, they were able to answer complex contextual questions. The “yes or no” question exhibited highest rank and “why” question had the lowest rank order in children between 5;1-9;0 years. Relevance theory has been utilized in this study to explore the pragmatic comprehension abilities of children in relation to varied contextual complexity of different question types. The results obtained can be employed in clinical setting to evaluate the pragmatic status of children with language disorders.