Point of Words: Children's Understanding of Metaphor and Irony

by Ellen Winner

Book Overview

A small child looks at a dripping faucet and says that it is drooling." Another calls a centipede a "comb." An older child notices the mess in his younger brother's room and says, "Wow, it sure is neat in here." Children's spontaneous speech is rich in such creative, nonliteral discourse. How do children's abilities to use and interpret figurative language change as they grow older? What does such language show us about the changing features of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674681266
• ISBN13: 9780674681262
• Release Date: March 1997
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"