%0 Journal Article %T Young children's detection and decoding of ironic intonation %A Catherine Rattray %A Andrew Tolmie %J Psychology of Language and Communication %@ 2083-8506 %D 2008 %I %R 10.2478/v10057-008-0002-1 %X Two studies examined 3- and 4-year-olds' ability to follow the mental ¡®sub-text¡¯ of conversations employing ironic intonation. In Study 1, children were asked what a confederate thought was inside a tin, following an exchange in which she saw (joke conditions) or did not see (lie conditions) the contents (a stone) and heard these referred to in neutral or ironic tone as a cake. Study 2 repeated the joke conditions, with the confederate touching the stone. Amongst 4-year-olds, intonation was found to trigger complex assessment of the information available to the confederate, whilst 3-year-olds appeared confused. The data suggest that ability to track the belief implications of conversations is underpinned by substantial improvements in working memory between 3 and 4 years. %K intonation %K irony %K theory of mind %K pragmatics %K preschool children %K conversational skill %U http://versita.metapress.com/content/j68075221pl44505/?p=3ac3450f6fa940ab902c115a01f807f8&pi=1