Nonlinguistic external representations, such as diagrams, animations, or puppet shows, involve local relations between a perceptually available object (a symbol) and an entity that is relevant in the current communicative context (a discourse referent). By analyzing the empirical evidence on early pretend play, I argue that object substitution pretense can be fully accounted for if it is conceived of as a subspecies of external representation. This implies that the capacity to interpret objects as symbols emerges early and reliably in human ontogeny. I discuss several accounts of pretend play and related phenomena and argue that the current proposal provides a better and more general account of early symbolic understanding than alternative views. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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对象替换的伪装反映了将对象解释为符号的一般能力。


非语言的外部表示，如图表、动画或木偶戏，涉及感知可用的对象（符号）与当前交际上下文中相关的实体（话语指涉）之间的局部关系。通过分析早期假装游戏的经验证据，我认为如果将对象替代伪装视为外部表征的一个亚种，则可以充分解释它。这意味着将物体解释为符号的能力在人类个体发育中很早就出现了。我讨论了对假装游戏和相关现象的几种解释，并认为目前的提议比其他观点提供了更好、更普遍的早期符号理解。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 （c） 2024 APA，保留所有权利）。