Similes require two different pragmatic skills: appreciating the intended similarity and deriving a scalar implicature (e.g., “Lucy is like a parrot” normally implies that Lucy is not a parrot), but previous studies overlooked this second skill. In Experiment 1, preschoolers (N = 48; ages 3–5) understood “X is like a Y” as an expression of similarity. In Experiment 2 (N = 99; ages 3–6, 13) and Experiment 3 (N = 201; ages 3–5 and adults), participants received metaphors (“Lucy is a parrot”) or similes (“Lucy is like a parrot”) as clues to select one of three images (a parrot, a girl or a parrot-looking girl). An early developmental trend revealed that 3-year-olds started deriving the implicature “X is not a Y,” whereas 5-year-olds performed like adults.

中文翻译：

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明喻理解的发展：从相似到标量含义

明喻需要两种不同的语用技能：欣赏预期的相似性和推导出标量含义（例如，“露西就像一只鹦鹉”通常暗示露西不是鹦鹉），但以前的研究忽略了第二个技能。在实验 1 中，学龄前儿童（N  = 48；3-5 岁）将“X 就像 Y”理解为相似性的表达。在实验 2（N  = 99；3-6、13 岁）和实验 3（N  = 201；3-5 岁和成人）中，参与者收到隐喻（“Lucy is a parrot”）或明喻（“Lucy is like a parrot”）。鹦鹉”）作为选择三个图像之一（鹦鹉、女孩或鹦鹉长相的女孩）的线索。早期的发展趋势表明，3 岁的孩子开始得出“X 不是 Y”的含义，而 5 岁的孩子表现得像成年人。