Development of the expression of indefiniteness: presenting new referents in Turkish picture-series stories

Abstract

This study investigates how native Turkish-speaking participants of different ages produce new referents in narrative discourse about a 6-frame picture series. Turkish does not obligatorily encode the distinction between indefinite and definite reference with a formal article system. The expression of indefiniteness is instead achieved through a conglomeration of devices, including an optional indefinite numeral, case-ending variation, and word order. The main motivation of this study was to specify the means and the extent of indicating the nondefinite status of newly introduced story participants by Turkish narrators of different ages. The results indicate that Turkish children, similar to young speakers of other languages, do not exhibit a tendency to mark the indefinite status of referents until around 7 years of age. The centrality and animacy of the story characters constrain the introductory referential strategies of speakers. The implications of these findings are discussed in a cross-linguistic developmental framework.