Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T20:27:51.572Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lexical development and overextension in child language*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Martyn D. Barrett
Martyn D. Barrett
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A common assumption underlying the semantic feature and the functional core hypotheses of lexical development is that attributes abstracted from the referents of a word are sufficient to determine the extension of that word. The present paper begins by challenging this assumption. A contrastive hypothesis is instead advanced to explain the early lexical development of children, and the predictions of this hypothesis are shown to be consistent with available data on overextension. The paper concludes with a critical discussion of the semantic feature and the functional core hypotheses in which it is shown that neither of these hypotheses can account for the data on overextension.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , June 1978 , pp. 205 - 219
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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.)

Footnotes

[*]

The author is indebted to Roger Goodwin for many useful discussions which took place during the genesis of this paper. Address for correspondence: 10 Goldsmid Road, Hove, Sussex BN3 1QA, UK.

References

REFERENCES

Clark, E. V. (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
Halliday, M. A. K. (1967). Notes on transitivity and theme in English. JL 3. 37–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (1975). Learning how to mean – explorations in the development of language. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Harrison, B. (1972). Meaning and structure: an essay in the philosophy of language. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Kotarbinska, J. (1960). On ostensive definitions. Philosophy of Science 27. 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leopold, W. F. (1939). Speech development of a bilingual child: a linguist's record. Vol. I: Vocabulary growth in the first two years. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Leopold, W. F. (1949). Speech development of a bilingual child: a linguist's record. Vol. III: Grammar and general problems in the first two years. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, M. M. (1951). Infant speech: a study of the beginnings of language. London: Rout-ledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Lyons, J. (1968). Introduction to theoretical linguistics. London: C.U.P.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, G. A. & Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1976). Language and perception. London: C.U.P.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, K. (1973). Structure and strategy in learning to talk. Monogr. Soc. Res. Ch. Devel. 38. (1–2, Serial No. 149).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, K. (1974). Concept, word and sentence: interrelations in acquisition and development. PsychRev 81. 267–85.Google Scholar
Palmer, F. R. (1976). Semantics: a new outline. London: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Reich, P. A. (1976). The early acquisition of word meaning. JChLang 3. 117–23.Google Scholar
De Saussure, F. (1916). Course in general linguistics. Fontana Books edn, 1974.Google Scholar