‘Childlike' comparisons as reflection of cognitive activity results in a child's communicative behavior (on the basis of Deniska's stories by V. Dragunsky)

Comparisons of varied structures in the speech of a literary character create a functional field. According to their type of ‘comparison marker' they may be divided into core and periphery groups, and into simple and complex groups according to their type of imagery. Denotative areas of naturefacts and artefacts, animal world and human world serve as sources of simple comparisons. Cognitive scenarios reflecting natural and human-related events important for a child serve as basis for complex imagery. Modeling of an aspect of a child's communicative behavior (usage of comparisons) proves that the reduction of the denotative area (the source of comparisons), the lack of control over normative language units is compensated by the means of the child's other communicative skills.