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In:Semantics in Language Acquisition
Edited by Kristen Syrett and Sudha Arunachalam
[Trends in Language Acquisition Research 24] 2018
► pp. 221–245

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Chapter 10
Perspectives on truth

The case of language and false belief reasoning

 | Smith College
Published online: 2 August 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tilar.24.10vil
Abstract
Many theorists take language – vocabulary, mental verbs, syntax, counterfactuals, discourse – to be a significant help in the development of explicit Theory of Mind. Does conversation, with all its point-of-view indicators, betray another’s perspective? By comparing how different linguistic markers behave across clausal environments, I demonstrate that they fall into distinct classes, only one of which – tense – patterns with the truth of the clause in terms of perspective. Sentences with embedded finite complements thus have a special role in representing the truth or falsity of others’ beliefs. Children who master embedded sentential complements can then more readily reason about others’ false beliefs.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Points of view
    • 2.1Personal pronouns
    • 2.2Spatial deixis
    • 2.3Demonstrative deixis
    • 2.4Personal taste adjectives
    • 2.5Opinion adverbs
    • 2.6Designators
    • 2.7Evidentials
  • 3.Conversation and perspective
  • 4.Embedded complements
    • 4.1Propositional attitudes
    • 4.2Infant theory of mind
    • 4.3When do complements emerge?
  • 5.Point of view across clauses
    • 5.1Truth and tense
    • 5.2Deixis
    • 5.3Reference and description
    • 5.4Summary
  • 6.Implications
  • 7.Is linguistic encoding required?
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (90)
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Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

de Villiers, Jill G. & Peter de Villiers
2025. The contributions of language and inhibitory control to false belief reasoning over time. Frontiers in Psychology 15 DOI logo
Serrat, Elisabet, Anna Amadó, Stephanie Durrleman, Alaitz Intxaustegi & Francesc Sidera
2024. Expressive syntax matters for second-order false belief: a study with hearing-impaired children. Frontiers in Communication 9 DOI logo
de Villiers, Jill
2021. With Language in Mind. Language Learning and Development 17:2 ► pp. 71 ff. DOI logo
de Villiers, Jill G.
2021. The Role(s) of Language in Theory of Mind. In The Neural Basis of Mentalizing, ► pp. 423 ff. DOI logo
Villiers, Jill de & Jay L. Garfield
2017. Evidentiality, questions and the reflection principle in Tibetan. In Social Environment and Cognition in Language Development [Trends in Language Acquisition Research, 21], ► pp. 113 ff. DOI logo

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