Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T05:17:29.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bloom, L. (1973). One word at a time. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Brown, R. W. (1956). Language and categories. Appendix to Bruner, Goodnow & Austin (1956).Google Scholar
Brown, R. W. (1957) Words and things. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. S., Goodnow, J. J. & Austin, G. A. (1956). A study of thinking. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Clark, E. (1973). What's in a word? On the child's acquisition of semantics in his first language. In Moore, T. E. (ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Donaldson, M. & Wales, R. J. (1970). On the acquisition of some relational terms. In Hayes, J. R. (ed.), Cognition and the development of language. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Eimas, P., Siqueland, E. R., Jusczyk, P. & Vigorito, J. (1971). Speech perception in infants. Science 171. 303–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friedlander, B. (1970). Receptive language development in infancy. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 16. 7–51.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (1975). Learning how to mean. London: Edward Arnold.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huttenlocher, J. (1974). The origins of language comprehension. In Solso, R. L. (ed.), Theories in cognitive psychology. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Katz, N., Baker, E. & Macnamara, J. (1974). What's in a name? A study of how children learn common and proper names. Ch.Dev 45. 469–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, T. S. (1963). Development of mediating responses in children. In Wright, J. C. & Kagan, J. (eds.), Basic cognitive processes in children. Monogr. Soc. Res. Ch. Devel. 28. 33–52.Google Scholar
Locke, J. (1689). An essay concerning human understanding. London: E. Holt, for Thomas Basset.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1974). Concept, word, and sentence. PsychRev. 81. 267–85.Google Scholar
Reich, P. A. (1970). A relational network model of language behavior. University of Michigan Ph.D. thesis. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms.Google Scholar
Trehub, S. E. (1973) Infants' sensitivity to vowel and tonal contrasts. DevPsych 9. 9–16.Google Scholar
Werner, H. & Kaplan, B. (1963). Symbol formation. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar