Abstract

A review is presented on referential communication in children, with special attention to the most recent work. Following a short historical overview, the standard paradigm proposed by Glucksberg, Krauss and Higgins (1975) is presented, together with its potential challenges that issue from the developments in conversation analysis and "theory of mind". The possible directions for future development are also discussed. The main part of the review describes the research conducted in this field, organized within three classes of skills: stimulus analysis skills, listener analysis and message evaluation skills. Finally, the main open questions for future research are presented.