Examines whether young children and adults are able to interpret sarcastic utterances and whether placements of contextual information before or after the utterance differentially affect interpretation. Results obtained from first and third graders and from college students indicated that different placements of contextual information do affect…

Five experiments examined the extent and nature of the referential source errors of 5- to 10-year-old children who listened to stories containing a referential utterance. The results supported five conclusions about children's confusion of different sources of information in referential communication. (SW)

Illustrated vignettes, some containing an ambiguous reference to the illustration, were presented to kindergartners and second and fourth graders. Variations in presentation tested the effects of question sequence, of delay between ambiguous reference and interrogation, and of the complication of the illustration on children's ability to detect…