Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T14:07:53.392Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Patterns of object–name extension in production*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Kathy L. Chapman  and
Carolyn B. Mervis
Kathy L. Chapman*
Affiliation:
Case Western Reserve University
Carolyn B. Mervis
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
*
Communication Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The evolution of young children's categories, as measured by category name production, was studied. The focus was on categories whose names initially were overextended. Four children (initially aged 1; 1 to 1; 3) were visited at home twice a week over a four- to six-month period, until they were approximately 1;7. The play sessions included eli-citations of the names of specially chosen objects. Results indicated that, as predicted, four sequences of category evolution were found, formed by the intersection of two factors: overlap vs. mutual exclusivity and first re-assignment separate vs. first re-assignment joint. As expected, most sequences involved initial overlap, and the choice of first reassignment option varied as a function of the relationship (hierarchical or non-hierarchical) between the initial child-basic category and the new category.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , October 1989 , pp. 561 - 571
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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 research reported was part of a dissertation conducted by the first author and submitted in partial fulfilment of degree requirements at Purdue University. Appreciation is expressed to the parents and children who participated in this study. We also would like to thank Macalyne Fristoe, Kathy Johnson, Laurence Leonard, Cindy Mervis, Richard Schwartz, and an anonymous reviewer for their comments on previous versions of this paper. Carolyn Mervis's work on this project was supported in part by grants BNS81-21169 and BNS84-19036 from the National Science Foundation.

References

REFERENCES

Banigan, R. L. & Mervis, C. B. (1988). Role of adult input in young children's category evolution: II. an experimental study. Journal of Child Language 15. 493–504.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrett, M. D. (1978). Lexical development and overextension in child language. Journal of Child Language 14. 205–19.Google Scholar
Barrett, M. D. (1982). Distinguishing between prototypes: the early acquisition of the meaning of object names. In S. A. Kuczaj (ed.), Language development. Vol. 1. Syntax and semantics.Google Scholar
Braunwald, S. (1978). Context, word, and meaning. Towards a communicational analysis of lexical acquisition. In Lock, A. (ed.), Action, gesture and symbol: the emergence of language. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Chapman, K. L. (1984). Inappropriate word usage in young children: a longitudinal investigation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Purdue University.Google Scholar
Chapman, K., Leonard, L. B. & Mervis, C. B. (1986). The effects of feedback on young children's inappropriate word usage. Journal of Child Language 13. 101–17.Google Scholar
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
Clark, E. V. (1983). Meaning and concepts. In Mussen, P. H. (ed.), Carmichael's manual of child psychology. Vol. 3, Cognitive development. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Clark, E. V. (1987). The principle of contrast: a constraint on acquisition. In MacWhinney, B. (ed.), Mechanisms of language acquisition. Hilsdale NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Dougherty, J. W. D. (1978). Relativity and salience in categorization. American Ethnologist 5. 66–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gathercole, V. (1987). The contrastive hypothesis for the acquisition of word meaning: a reconsideration of the theory. Journal of Child Language 14, 493–531.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J. & Kuczaj, S. (1982). Toward a theory of substantive word-meaning acquisition. In Kuczaj, S. (ed.), Language development: Vol. 1. Syntax and semantics. Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Gruendel, J. (1977). Referential extension in early language development. Child Development 48, 1567–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markman, E. M. (1987). How children constrain the possible meanings of words. In Neisser, U. (ed.), Concepts and conceptual development: ecological and intellectual factors in categorization. London: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Merriman, W. E. (1986). Some reasons for the occurrence and eventual correction of children's naming errors. Child Development 57, 942–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merriman, W. E. (1987). Lexical contrast in toddlers: a re-analysis of the diary evidence. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, Maryland.Google Scholar
Mervis, C. B. (1983). Acquisition of a lexicon. Contemporary Educational Psychology 8, 210–36.Google Scholar
Mervis, C. B. (1984). Early lexical development: the contributions of mother and child. In Sophian, C. (ed.), Origins of cognitive skills. Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Mervis, C. B. (1986). Operating principles and personal theories: their roles in early lexical development. Paper presented at a meeting of the New England Child Language Association, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Mervis, C. B. (1987). Child-basic object categories and early lexical development. In Neisser, U. (ed.), Concepts and conceptual development: ecological and intellectual factors in categorization. London: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Mervis, C. B. & Canada, K. (1983). On the existence of competence errors in comprehension: a reply to Fremgen & Fay and Thomson & Chapman. Journal of Child Language 10, 431–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rescorla, L. A. (1976). Concept formation in word learning. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Yale University.Google Scholar
Rescorla, L. A. (1980). Overextension in early language development. Journal of Child Language. 7, 321–35.Google Scholar
Rescorla, L. A. (1981). Category development in early language. Journal of Child Language 8, 225–38.Google Scholar
Rosch, E., Mervis, C. B., Gray, W. D., Johnson, D. W. & Boyes-Braem, P. (1976). Basic objects in natural categories. Cognitive Psychology 8, 382–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tversky, B. & Hemenway, K. (1984). Objects, parts, and categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 113, 169–93.Google Scholar