Pragmatic Skills in Typical Children Speaking Malayalam

Sneha Aji; Satish kumaraswamy

Pragmatic Skills in Typical Children Speaking Malayalam

Author(s)	Ms. Sneha Aji, Dr. Satish kumaraswamy
Country	India
Abstract	Pragmatic language skills are essential for effective social communication during early childhood and involve the appropriate use of language in different social contexts. The present study examined the development of pragmatic language skills among typical children aged 2–3 years and aimed to establish age-related normative patterns within the local sociocultural context. A total of 60 typical children speaking Malayalam participated in the study who were further divided into two age groups: 2–2.11 years and 3–3.11 years. Pragmatic skills were assessed using the Test of Pragmatic Skills developed by Thankam J. Mathew (2002). The test examined multiple pragmatic domains, including greeting, stylistic variation, labelling, referential communication, requesting, turn-taking, negation, closing conversation, affirmation, eye gaze, proximity, and repair or revision. Descriptive statistics, chi-square analysis, and independent sample t-tests were used to statistically analysis the data The results indicated that appropriate verbal and nonverbal responses were higher than inappropriate responses across most pragmatic domains. Strong performance was observed in greeting, labelling, eye gaze, proximity, and turn-taking, whereas comparatively lower performance was noted in more complex skills such as requesting and repair or revision. Age-wise comparison revealed statistically significant differences across all pragmatic domains (p < .05), with children aged 3–3.11 years demonstrating higher percentages of appropriate responses than children aged 2–2.11 years. For example, appropriate verbal greeting increased from 33.3% in the younger group to 56.7% in the older group, and labelling increased from 40% to 60%. Total score comparison further showed that children aged 2–2.11 years obtained a significantly higher mean score (M = 29.93, SD = 1.91) than children aged 3–3.11 years (M = 24.53, SD = 2.98), with a statistically significant difference (t = −8.36, p < .001). Overall, the findings indicate clear age-relate development in pragmatic language skills between 2 and 3 years of age. The study provides culturally relevant normative data for Malayalam speaking preschool children and highlights the importance of age related maturation and social interaction in the development of pragmatic competence. These findings may support clinicians in the early identification and assessment of pragmatic language difficulties in young children.
Keywords	pragmatic language skills, preschool children, social communication, Kerala, early childhood development
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 3, May-June 2026
Published On	2026-05-11

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Pragmatic Skills in Typical Children Speaking Malayalam

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