Patterns of Mutual Exclusivity and Retention: A Study of Monolingual and Bilingual 2-Year-Olds

Abstract

When children learn their native language, they tend to treat objects as if they only have one label—a principle known as mutual exclusivity (ME). However, bilingual children are faced with a different cognitive challenge—they need to learn to associate two labels with one object. In the present study, we compared bilingual and monolingual 24-month-olds' performance on a challenging and semi-naturalistic forced-choice referent selection task and retention test. Overall, both language groups used ME at similar rates but differed on retention. Specifically, while monolingual infants showed some retention, bilingual infants performed at chance and significantly worse than their monolingual peers.

The role of syntactic cues in monolingual and bilingual two-year-olds’ novel word disambiguation

“…Because bilinguals' knowledge of translation equivalents inherently violates mutual exclusivity, studies have examined whether bilinguals adhere to mutual exclusivity less than monolinguals (e.g., Frank & Poulin-Dubois, 2002;Kalashnikova et al, 2019). However, in line with previous work on a similar age range (Frank & Poulin-Dubois, 2002;Kalashnikova et al, 2019;Rocha-Hidalgo et al, 2021), we found no difference in adherence to mutual exclusivity between monolinguals and bilinguals, as well as no evidence of a relation between bilinguals' knowledge of translation equivalents and adherence to mutual exclusivity (cf. Byers-Heinlein & Werker 2013).…”

“…One is a familiar object for which the child knows the label (e.g., cup), and one is an unfamiliar object for which the child does not have a label (e.g., avocado slicer)-and asked to identify whether the familiar object or the unfamiliar object is the referent of a novel label (e.g., "Give me the blick," or "Blick!"). The manner in which children are asked to select an object varies across studies, with some studies using eye-tracking or looking-while-listening paradigms in which children look at the target object (e.g., Byers-Heinlein & Werker, 2009;Houston-Price et al, 2010;Kalashnikova et al, 2018) and others using behavioral paradigms in which children point to or hand the target object to an experimenter (e.g., Byers-Heinlein et al, 2014;Davidson & Tell, 2005;Frank & Poulin-Dubois, 2002;Kalashnikova et al, 2015;Rocha-Hidalgo et al, 2021).…”

Defining Bilingualism in Infancy and Toddlerhood: A Scoping Review

“…A second possibility suggested by Kremin and Byers-Heinlein, (2021) is that researchers could combine both a binary categorization and a continuous approach when reporting their results (see following examples: Rocha-Hidalgo et al, 2020;Kalashnikova et al, 2021). Categorization approaches could also be improved.…”