Abstract Play is an important tool for children’s social interactions and cognitive skills. The current study examines the links between pretend play and language in 119 Turkish preschoolers at two time points tested one-year apart (Time 1 Mage = 45.82 months and Time 2 Mage = 57.68 months). Preschoolers’ language competence (linguistic complexity and receptive vocabulary) was assessed along with several pretend play measures (telephone task, imaginary pantomime task, pretense score from a free play session). Results showed that concurrently the telephone and imaginary pantomime task scores were associated with linguistic complexity at Time 1 and only the telephone score was related to linguistic complexity at Time 2. No concurrent associations were found between receptive vocabulary and pretend play measures. Furthermore, a longitudinal relation was found between language competence and one pretend play measure: Time 1 telephone score predicted Time 2 receptive vocabulary score. These findings are discussed in terms of the two domains potentially sharing the symbolic aspect as an underlying mechanism and social aspect through pretense creating contexts relevant to language development.

中文翻译：

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假装游戏和语言能力的多维调查：学龄前儿童的并发和纵向关系

摘要 游戏是儿童社交互动和认知技能的重要工具。当前的研究检查了 119 名土耳其学龄前儿童在相隔一年测试的两个时间点（时间 1 Mage = 45.82 个月和时间 2 Mage = 57.68 个月）的假装游戏和语言之间的联系。学龄前儿童的语言能力（语言复杂性和接受性词汇）与几种假装游戏措施（电话任务、想象的哑剧任务、来自自由游戏会话的假装分数）一起被评估。结果表明，电话和想象哑剧任务分数同时与时间 1 的语言复杂性相关，只有电话分数与时间 2 的语言复杂性相关。在接受词汇和假装游戏测量之间没有发现同时存在的关联。此外，在语言能力和一个假装游戏测量之间发现了纵向关系：时间 1 电话分数预测时间 2 接受词汇分数。这些发现是从两个领域的角度讨论的，它们可能通过假装创造与语言发展相关的上下文来共享象征方面作为潜在机制和社会方面。