Quiz 4 Flashcards
Semantic Development
Acquisition of (categorical concepts) words and their many meanings and the develpment of that knowledge into a complex hierarchal network of associated meanings.
Referent
the actual thing that the word alludes
-the relationship between the object and word is symbolic and if often arbitrary
folk entymologies
gossip (go sip some ale)
How might children acquire categorical concepts
1) semantic features
2) Prototypical
3) probablistic
4) classical
disadvantages of semantic feature hypothesis
- fails to discriminate between most relevant features
- the whoel object is more than the sum of its parts
- inadequate as an explanation of non-object concepts (more, all gone, up)
semantic features:
children learn a set of distinguishing features for each categorical concept
Prototypical:
child picks that most average example of the category (the one with the most common characteristics and compares the novel object to this common example
probablistic
-membership is based on the degree to which it shares a proportion of “prototypical” features (comparing similarities)
Classical
strict and unambiguous criteria for membership. Think of a shape
Theories of categorical/conceptual development
given that words refer to categories or concepts- how do children come to understand this arbitrary relationship?
1) behavioral view
2) developmental view
Behavioral view:
-associative learning-repeated pairings of words with objects
pros:
-may have been used for earliest and simplest word learning as children are sensitive to novelty in their environment
cons:
-slow and effortful and result in many errors
developmental view
1) joitn attn-baldwin “toma” study
2) whole word assumption
3) mapping
3a: fast mapping 3b: principle of contrast 3c: principle of mutual exclusivity
Principle of contrast:
no 2 words have exaclty the same meanign but are some how related (animal, dog, max all in vendiagram)
Principle of mutual exclusivity
one label for one object (animal, dog, max 3 seperates circles)
early words:
first 50 words tend ot be nouns rather than verbs
why? things that move, mom notices nouns more and report them, this also differs based on language spoken, verbs are more complex
-frequently over or under generalized(extension)
early words under extension:
using words to refer to only a subset of possible referents (only toy trucks are trucks)
What does over and under extension tell us?
1) Not all caregivers have clear cut boundaries
2) retrieval problems: child remembers the old term”dog” but cant recall new word moose
3) haven’t learned the word for that object yet
4) to comment on similarities (pointing to st bern. and calling it a cow may mean that the dog is like a cow)
5) as a humorous gesture
6) How child categorizes the world-some caution must be used
Types of Invented words
1) simplicity
2) semantic transparency
3) productivity
1)simplicity
unconventional but obvious-to pillow
2)semantic transparency
apparent and easier to remember than the conventional word. bee house
3)productivity
over generalize a form or rule e.g. cooker
Comprehension vs production
comprehension: requires one hearing the word to anticipate or do something where as production requires the child to search out the correct word for the time and place and then speak it
How is production/com assessed in young children?
1A) parental reports has pros and cons
1B) behavioral response-have child point of reach toward object. pros: large bank of words cons: some words difficult to depict in a 2d picture, infants and young kids often do not reliably point to the picture
1C) preferential looking paradigm-can be used in young kids to assess comprehension (have two pictures and say word and see where they look
Adult influence on semantic development
adults vary their object labeling depending on their audience examples: money for nickel, dog for beagle
why?
by parents labeling objects according to the child’s own category they are showing how words are used
