Pragmatic Development in Peruvian Children: Modality and Lexical Development Between 8 and 15 Months of Age

This study examines how 8- to 15-month-old Peruvian children1 (N=18) express pragmatic functions in terms of the modality and referential-specifcity level of each communicative behaviour. Results show that pragmatic functions were expressed mainly via the vocal modality, primarily with vocalisations; nevertheless, specifc functional patterns were found: declaratives involved more use of words, and imperatives more use of gestures. While older children produced more declaratives and less personal expressions, and more words, there was no signifcant change of preferred modality with age. Finally, vocabulary size and pragmatic production seem to be associated: children with larger receptive vocabularies produced more declaratives and less personal expressions, while those with larger expressive vocabularies produced fewer personal expressions and more words. This pragmatic approach allows for a more nuanced view of communicative development, with each function exhibiting a specifc trajectory.