Grasping the Logic Behind: Three- and Four-year-olds' Understanding of Major Types of Chinese Connectives.

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Title: Grasping the Logic Behind: Three- and Four-year-olds' Understanding of Major Types of Chinese Connectives.
Authors: Liu, Siying1 (AUTHOR) 2019616@shisu.edu.cn, Li, Xun1 (AUTHOR), Wang, Yunting2 (AUTHOR)
Source: Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. Jun2026, Vol. 55 Issue 3, p1-20. 20p.
Subject Terms: *Conjunctions (Grammar), *Children's language, *Reading comprehension, *Cognitive development, Chinese language, Discourse markers, Eye tracking
Abstract: Logical connectives are key in language development because they help children interpret and produce complex sentences. The understanding of connectives also reflects how well children master basic logical relations hence sheds light on the emergence of more advanced cognitive abilities. The present study assessed 3- and 4-year-olds' understanding of four types of connectives in Chinese. Sixty children watched puppet shows during which they had to identify the target puppet according to sentences that contained connectives. Eye-tracking results indicated that 3-year-olds could comprehend all coordinate connectives and two conditional connectives but not selective and adversative ones while 4-year-olds showed basic understanding of all types of connectives. These findings provide preliminary evidence that the understanding of commonly used Chinese connectives and logical relations advances during the third and fourth year of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Psycholinguistic Research is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Grasping the Logic Behind: Three- and Four-year-olds' Understanding of Major Types of Chinese Connectives.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Liu%2C+Siying%22">Liu, Siying</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> 2019616@shisu.edu.cn</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Li%2C+Xun%22">Li, Xun</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Wang%2C+Yunting%22">Wang, Yunting</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Psycholinguistic+Research%22">Journal of Psycholinguistic Research</searchLink>. Jun2026, Vol. 55 Issue 3, p1-20. 20p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Conjunctions+%28Grammar%29%22">Conjunctions (Grammar)</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Children's+language%22">Children's language</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Reading+comprehension%22">Reading comprehension</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cognitive+development%22">Cognitive development</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Chinese+language%22">Chinese language</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Discourse+markers%22">Discourse markers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Eye+tracking%22">Eye tracking</searchLink>
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  Data: Logical connectives are key in language development because they help children interpret and produce complex sentences. The understanding of connectives also reflects how well children master basic logical relations hence sheds light on the emergence of more advanced cognitive abilities. The present study assessed 3- and 4-year-olds' understanding of four types of connectives in Chinese. Sixty children watched puppet shows during which they had to identify the target puppet according to sentences that contained connectives. Eye-tracking results indicated that 3-year-olds could comprehend all coordinate connectives and two conditional connectives but not selective and adversative ones while 4-year-olds showed basic understanding of all types of connectives. These findings provide preliminary evidence that the understanding of commonly used Chinese connectives and logical relations advances during the third and fourth year of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Psycholinguistic Research is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1007/s10936-026-10227-y
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      – SubjectFull: Reading comprehension
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              Text: Jun2026
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