are words arbitrary?
YES, no real phonetic similarity
words that are not arbitrary are…
onomatopoeic! choo choo woof
underextensions
using words with a range of meanings narrower than the meaning of the word
over extensions
a type of error in children’s early word usage that seems to reflect an overly inclusive meaning
do over extensions reflect incomplete categorization skills?
according to naigles study, children have a semantic category so NO
first 50 words are mostly,
NOUNS “the noun bias”
substantive words
S words are ones that children encounter alot in their environment and are at BASIC levels rather than subordinate.
- the are more conrete vs abstract
- conform to the childs interests
relative words
refer to relations between objects and events
- location, posession, number, existence, non existence, agent action etc
quinian mapping hypothesis
the ability to know and learn words with minimal exposure (fast mapping)
-assume label applied to OBJECT not an ATTRIBUTE, shows assumptions are constrained
joint attention role in pragmatics
mapping problem may be aided by JA
- children understand other peoples intentions
- mindreading
vocabulary spurt
occurs on avg 18 mos, occurs as productive lexicon approached 50 word pt
meanings of words- prototype theory
children acquire core concepts/categories and are likely to include a member in that category when the exemplar is prototypical of the category- then generalizes new objects based on similarity to prototype
principle of reference
TIER 1- children understand things have names
principle of extendability
TIER 1- extend label to similar instances
object scope
TIER 1- words map to objects and not actions
principle of categorical scope
TIER 2- begin using categorical knowledge to guide ability to learn words (shape bias- name things that are round in same category)
N3C/mutual exclusivity
description of behavior
multiple cues model
throughout development child attends to cues or weights cues differently
MCM time 1
temporal contiguity- in time and place things are different
MCM time 2
eye gaze, social context- pragmatics
MCM time 3
grammar, morphology- syntax
parental input effect on word learning
- parent labeling tends to be tailored to child’s categorical level
- cultural differences
- environment
- cds
