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The early acquisition of word meaning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Peter A. Reich
Peter A. Reich
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Abstract

The development of the meaning of shoe in one pre-lingual child, plus additional examples drawn from the literature, support a notion that word meanings start out very narrow and only become overextended later, though sometimes before the word is spoken. This appears to contradict the course of development of meaning hypothesized by Clark (1973). It is argued that the early development of word meaning is simply a special case of a much more general learning process.

Type
Notes and Discussion
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , February 1976 , pp. 117 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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References

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