Semantic development Flashcards
(26 cards)
Children’s early words are often:
overextended or underextended
What does overextended mean
one word covers more things that have similar properties to the actual object
What does under extended mean
one word covers a narrower definition of the word’s meaning: a child might be able to point out a banana in real life but cannot label a picture of a banana
Rescorla divided over extensions into 3 types:
Categorical over extension, analogical over extension and mismatch statements
What is categorical over extension?
Where the name for one item in a category refers to the rest of the items within that category
What is an example of categorical over extension?
An apple could be used to refer to all round fruits
What is analogical over extension?
When the word for one object is extended to another object in a different category
What is an example of analogical over extension?
The word ball being used for a round fruit
What is a mismatch statement?
one word sentences which can appear quite abstract; the child might make a statement about one object in relation to another
What is an example of a mismatch statement?
A child saying duck when they see an empty pond
What did Eve Clark study in relation to over extension?
She studied parents’ records of their children’s first words
Findings from Clark’s study:
Children base over extensions on the physical qualities of objects or features like taste, shape and size
What does Clark’s study show?
It shows the link between young children’s first words and how their experience of the world is dominated by their developing senses
How does cognitive theory account for some over extension?
A child may have a semantic grasp of an object but over extends the lexical label - this could be based on seriation
What is seriation?
The ability to arrange items in a specific order depending on a particular attribute like size, shape or colour
Aitchison identified a model of 3 stages in children’s aquisition of words and their meanings:
Labelling, Packaging and network building
What is labelling?
1) Associating sounds with objects surrounding the child
2) Linking words to things
What is an example of labelling?
using the phonetic sound “woof” for the noun dog
What is packaging?
1) When children start to explore the extent of the label
2) When over and under extensions start to occur most frequently
What is Network Building?
1) When a child can make connections between the labels they have developed
2) Being able to understand opposites and similarities between labels
Why is Network building useful?
When a child’s vocabulary has been expanded, they can use network building as a way of sorting them - this involves having an understanding of hyponymy
What is hyponymy?
The hierarchical structure that exists between lexical items - divided into hypernyms and hyponyms
What is a hypernym?
A word that is more generic or general which can have more specific words under it
Example of a hypernym:
Shoes - boots, slippers, heels, trainers
