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Differences in how monolingual and bilingual children learn second labels for familiar objects*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2015

LINDSEY ROWE ,
REBECCA JACOBSON  and
MEGAN M. SAYLOR
LINDSEY ROWE
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
REBECCA JACOBSON
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
MEGAN M. SAYLOR*
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
*
Address for correspondence: Megan M. Saylor, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Peabody College #552, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203. e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Monolingual children sometimes resist learning second labels for familiar objects. One explanation is that they are guided by word learning constraints that lead to the assumption that objects have only one name. It is less clear whether bilingual children observe this constraint. In the current study, we test the hypothesis that bilingual children might be more willing to accept second labels for objects and ask how they are affected by different amounts of information relevant to the second label. Although monolingual and bilingual children benefited from increased levels of information, only bilingual children chose the referent at above chance levels when they were offered increased levels of information. They were also more likely than monolingual children to accept second labels. Differences emerged even when English language vocabulary size was controlled for in the analyses.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 42 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 1219 - 1236
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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Footnotes

[*]

Lindsey Rowe, Rebecca Jacobson, and Megan M. Saylor, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University. We thank all families who participated. Portions of these data were used for Lindsey Rowe's Honors Thesis.

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