Acquiring Proper Nouns for Familiar and Unfamiliar Animate Objects: Two-Year-Olds' Word-Learning Biases

Abstract

HALL, D. GEOFKHEY, Acquiring Proper Nouns for Familiar and Unfamiliar Animate Objects: Two-Year-Olds' Word-learning Biases. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1991, 62, 1142-1154 In 2 studies, 2-year-old children learned a novel word modeled as a proper noun (e.g., "This is Zav") for an animate stuffed toy. Children who learned the word for a familiar object (i.e., one for which they knew a basic-level count noun for Ae kind) interpreted the word appropriately as a proper noun reliably more often than chiidren who learned {he word for an unfamiliar object (i.e., one for which they did not know such a count noun). When the creature was familiar, children typically interpreted the novel word as if it were a proper noun referring uniquely to the labeled individual. When the animal was unfamiliar, children frequently interpreted the word as if it were a count noun referring to a kind of object. Children's spontaneous comments during the tasks provided striking additional evidence that their interpretations of the proper noun varied with the familiarity of the object. The results suggest that young children's sensitivity to the form class of proper nouns is affected by the familiarity of the referent object. The findings are discussed in terms of interpretative biases in word learning, v [Child Development, 1991, 62,1142-1154. © 1991 by the Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. All rights reserved. 0(K)9-3920/91/6205-0009SO!.()0]

Preschoolers' Use of Form Class Cues to Learn Descriptive Proper Names

“…These results build on previous findings that suggest that children as young as 2 years can interpret conventional nondescriptive proper names (e.g., ''This is Dax'') as designating rather than describing individuals (e.g., Gelman & Taylor, 1984;Hall, 1991;Hall et al, 2001;Imai & Haryu, 2001;Jaswal & Markman, 2001;Katz et al, 1974;Liittschwager & Markman, 1993;Macnamara, 1982;Sorrentino, 2001). The current findings reveal that by 4 years of age, children's ability to interpret proper names appropriately has grown to encompass not only those that are purely conventional but also those that have some descriptive meaning.…”

“…Several researchers have discovered that young children can use these cues to interpret novel proper names appropriately. For example, the findings from a number of studies indicate that children as young as 2 years understand that a novel word modeled as a proper name (e.g., ''This is X'') designates an individual object (e.g., Gelman & Taylor, 1984;Hall, 1991;Hall, Lee, & Bélanger, 2001;Imai & Haryu, 2001;Jaswal & Markman, 2001;Katz, Baker, & Macnamara, 1974;Liittschwager & Markman, 1993;Macnamara, 1982;Sorrentino, 2001), but a novel word modeled as an adjective (e.g., ''This is an X one'') provides a description of the object (e.g., Gelman & Markman, 1985;Hall, Quantz, & Persoage, 2000;Hall, Waxman, & Hurwitz, 1993;Klibanoff & Waxman, 2000;Taylor & Gelman, 1988;Waxman, 1990Waxman, , 1999Waxman & Booth, 2001;Waxman & Markow, 1998). Because preschoolers can use form class cues to acquire purely arbitrary proper names (e.g., Dax), it is possible that they can also use these cues to learn proper names that are homophones of familiar descriptive terms.…”

Panorama de los estudios sobre aprendizaje de palabras en el habla de los niños de los doce meses a los cuatro años de edad

“…de imágenes 2 , preferencia visual 3 , uso de palabras inventadas 4 y uso de objetos no familiares 5 (Gentner, 1978;Hall, 1991;Hoff y Naigles, 2002). La edad preferida de los estudios sigue siendo los dos años de edad, aunque hay ahora un volumen mayor de trabajos con niños de tres o cuatro años, y con niños de un año o en el curso del segundo año de vida (Bloom, 1990;Childers y Tomasello, 2002;Dapretto y Bjork, 2000;Fisher et ál., 1994;Forbes y Poulin-Dubois, 1997;Gelman y Taylor, 1984;Gogate et ál., 2000;Hall, 1991;Hoff y Naigles, 2002;Naigles, 1990;Nazzi y Gopnik, 2001;Nelson, Hampson y Shaw, 1993;Waxman, 1994;Waxman y Markow, 1995).…”

“…La edad preferida de los estudios sigue siendo los dos años de edad, aunque hay ahora un volumen mayor de trabajos con niños de tres o cuatro años, y con niños de un año o en el curso del segundo año de vida (Bloom, 1990;Childers y Tomasello, 2002;Dapretto y Bjork, 2000;Fisher et ál., 1994;Forbes y Poulin-Dubois, 1997;Gelman y Taylor, 1984;Gogate et ál., 2000;Hall, 1991;Hoff y Naigles, 2002;Naigles, 1990;Nazzi y Gopnik, 2001;Nelson, Hampson y Shaw, 1993;Waxman, 1994;Waxman y Markow, 1995). Esto parece indicar que todavía hay una discusión abierta y muy viva sobre las explicaciones a fenómenos como la explosión del vocabulario 6 (16 a 22 meses de edad aproximadamente) o el comienzo del uso de secuencias gramaticales correctas 7 con poco margen de error (de los 24 a los 30 meses aproximadamente) (Pinker, 2001).…”

Where do “constraints” come from? A comparison between inferences in biology and in word learning

“…First, words are spoken in a certain context, which cues a word's meaning. Young children are shown to be able to use linguistic cues to figure out the meaning of a novel word (e.g., Gelman & Taylor, 1984;Hall, 1991;Katz, Baker, & Macnamara, 1974). For example, 2-year-old children can use the presence or absence of an article to determine whether a novel term is a common or proper noun.…”