Preschoolers Can Coordinate With Each Other to Communicate About Novel Referents

Abstract

Learning language requires learning not only the content of language, but also how to use language to communicate. Iterated reference games provide a window into such skills, requiring sustained interactive communication as participants converge on mutually understandable names for initially novel referents. Some early experiments are interpreted as evidence that 4–5-year-old children cannot converge on the mutually understandable names needed to succeed in an iterated reference game. Here, we revisit young children’s referential communicative abilities using a simpler, child-friendly version of the iterated reference game paradigm. Across 4 experiments and 82 pairs of children (N = 158), we found that 4–5-year-olds could successfully establish reference with each other. Children were 81% accurate, and they often used descriptions similar to their partner’s. These findings suggest that children’s capacity to construct effective referring expressions in novel contexts emerges earlier than previously thought, consistent with the view that children show early pragmatic competence in supportive contexts.