Indirect answers are a common type of non-literal language that do not provide an explicit “yes” or “no” to a question (e.g., “I have to work late” indirectly answered “Are you going to the party?” with a negative response). In the current study, we examined the developmental trajectory of comprehension of indirect answers among 5- to 10-year-old children with typical development. Forty-eight children, 23 boys and 25 girls, between the ages of 5 years; 0 months and 10 years; 11 months (M = 8;2, SD = 19.77 months) completed an experimental task to judge whether a verbally presented indirect answer meant yes or no (Comprehension Task) and then explain their choice (Explanation Task). Responses were scored for accuracy and coded for error analysis. On the Comprehension Task, the 5- to 8-year-olds performed with approximately 85% accuracy, while the 9- and 10-year-olds achieved 95% accuracy. On the Explanation Task, the cross-sectional trajectory revealed three stages: the 5- and 6-year-olds adequately explained indirect answers 32% of the time, the 7- and 8-year-olds performed significantly higher at 55%, and the 9- and 10-year-olds made significant gains than the younger children at 66%. Error analysis revealed that when children fail to interpret speaker intentions appropriately, they repeat the speaker’s utterance or provide an insufficient explanation 80% of the time. Other responses, such as those irrelevant to the context, indicating “I don’t know” or no response, or that were made-up interpretations each accounted for 2%-10% of total inadequate explanations. Study findings indicate discrepancies between task performances and offer two separate sets of baseline data for future comparisons that investigate comprehension or explanation of indirect answers by children with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds and by those with varying cognitive and language profiles.

间接回答是一种常见的非文字语言，不会对问题提供明确的“是”或“否”（例如，“我必须工作到很晚”，间接回答“你要去参加聚会吗？”）负面反应）。在本研究中，我们研究了具有典型发展的 5 至 10 岁儿童理解间接答案的发展轨迹。 48 名儿童，其中 23 名男孩和 25 名女孩，年龄在 5 岁之间； 0个月和10年； 11个月（M  = 8;2，  SD  = 19.77个月）完成一项实验任务，判断口头提出的间接答案是否意味着是或否（理解任务），然后解释他们的选择（解释任务）。对响应的准确性进行评分并进行编码以进行错误分析。在理解任务中，5 至 8 岁儿童的准确率约为 85%，而 9 岁和 10 岁儿童的准确率达到 95%。在解释任务中，横截面轨迹显示了三个阶段：5 岁和 6 岁的孩子在 32% 的时间内充分解释了间接答案，7 岁和 8 岁的孩子表现明显更高，为 55%， 9 岁和 10 岁的孩子比年龄较小的孩子进步显着，达到 66%。错误分析显示，当孩子无法正确理解说话者的意图时，80% 的情况下他们会重复说话者的话语或提供不充分的解释。其他回答，例如与上下文无关的回答，表示“我不知道”或没有回答，或者是捏造的解释，各占不充分解释总数的2%-10%。研究结果表明了任务表现之间的差异，并为未来的比较提供了两组独立的基线数据，以调查具有不同文化和语言背景的儿童以及具有不同认知和语言特征的儿童对间接答案的理解或解释。