BACKGROUND: children start to differentiate questions from non-questions and also start to adjust their answers at the age of two. This participation in verbal exchanges requires basic conversational abilities such as the competence to initiate interact and reply appropriately, and to maintain the interaction. AIM: to analyze and correlate the pragmatic aspects of language, related to the type of answers, during an adult/child interaction in children with normal language development and in those diagnosed with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). METHOD: 16 children with SLI (GP) and ages between three and six years, and 60 children with normal language development (GC) and ages between three to five years - 20 for each age group, 10 of each gender. Data gathering occurred in two different days, with the adult/child interaction being facilitated by toys. Data (speech of child and adult) were transcribed and analyzed, obtaining a Reliability Index of 93.75%, and later were submitted to statistical analyses. RESULTS: answers were classified in categories and grouped according to the following: Adequate Answers (RA) and Inadequate Answers (RI), always in accordance to the established communicative context. GC presented a significantly higher average of RA when compared to GP, and GP presented a significantly higher average of RI when compared to GC. GC presented a decrease in the use of RI at the increase of age. GP maintained the use of RI at the increase of age, including the age group of six. CONCLUSION: it was observed that the increase in age emphasized differences between GP and GC. GP presented a less effective communication maintaining unintelligible speech, whereas GC presented more elaborate communication abilities. More studies with older children are necessary for the better understanding of the observed trends.
Language Disorders; Answer; Language Development
