Performative and Presuppositional Skills in Language-Disordered and Normal Children

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Abstract
The presuppositional and performative abilities of language-disordered and normal children were compared, controlling for the children's ability to use the lexical items required in the experimental task. Subjects were 36 children, 18 normal and 18 language-disordered, functioning at a single-word level of linguistics development. Results revealed that both the language-disordered and the normal children showed a tendency to encode changing rather than unchanging situational elements. The two groups of children also demonstrated similar levels of imperative and declarative performative intent. For both groups, performative and presuppositional behaviors were usually in the form of word productions. Discrepancies between the findings of this and other investigations are discussed with respect to the size of the children's lexicons, their expressive command of the lexicon, chronological age, and representational skills.

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