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Differentiating word learning processes may yield new insights – a commentary on Stoel-Gammon's ‘Relationships between lexical and phonological development in young children’*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2010

HOLLY L. STORKEL
HOLLY L. STORKEL*
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
*
Address for correspondence: Holly Storkel, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders, University of Kansas, 3001 Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045-7555. e-mail: [email protected]
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Extract

Stoel-Gammon (this issue) states that ‘from birth to age 2 ; 6, the developing phonological system affects lexical acquisition to a greater degree than lexical factors affect phonological development’ (this issue). This conclusion is based on a wealth of data; however, the available data are somewhat limited in scope, focusing on rather holistic measures of the phonological and lexical systems (e.g. production accuracy, number of words known). Stoel-Gammon suggests a number of important avenues to pursue, but does not discuss a critical one that is emerging in the broader literature on word learning. Specifically, recent connectionist models and adult word learning research provide evidence that greater differentiation of the cognitive processes that underlie word learning yields new insights (Leach & Samuel, 2007). This approach may be fruitful for future investigations of the relationship between phonological and lexical development in young children.

Type
Review Article and Commentaries
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 51 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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Footnotes

[*]

The research described in this commentary was supported by NIH Grant DC 08095.

References

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