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Language input and semantic categories: a relation between cognition and early word learning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2006

ARIELLE BOROVSKY  and
JEFF ELMAN
ARIELLE BOROVSKY
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
JEFF ELMAN
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
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Abstract

Variations in the amount and nature of early language to which children are exposed have been linked to their subsequent ability (e.g. Huttenlocher, Haight, Bryk, Seltzer & Lyons, 1991; Hart & Risley, 1995). In three computational simulations, we explore how differences in linguistic experience can explain differences in word learning ability due to changes in the development of semantic category structure. More specifically, we manipulate the amount of language input, sentential complexity, and the frequency distribution of words within categories. In each of these simulations, improvements in category structure, are tightly correlated with subsequent improvements in word learning ability even when the nature of the input remains the same over time. These simulations suggest that variation in early language environments may result in differences in lexical proficiency by altering underlying cognitive abilities like categorization.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , November 2006 , pp. 759 - 790
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

This work was supported by NIMH grant (MH6051701A2) to Jeffrey Elman. We are grateful to Holger Keibel for his invaluable advice on measurement of category structure. This work is dedicated to Elizabeth Bates, whose input was crucial in influencing earlier versions of work, and without whom this project would have never begun.