The importance of linguistic and non-linguistic context in early language understanding and word learning
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In this dissertation, I propose that some of the mechanisms used by adults to resolve ambiguity in sentence processing might also be exploited by children to interpret language and resolve referential ambiguity in word learning. I present the findings of four studies focusing on how young children make use of words other than labels (i.e., the semantic context of sentences) to help disambiguate the referent of familiar and novel words. In Study 1, 30-month-olds were able to use their knowledge about verbs and actions to rapidly determine the objects a speaker was talking about, even when these objects were unfamiliar. In addition to determining the objects being talked about, children took advantage of these opportunities to map two novel words to two unfamiliar objects, and they remembered these mapping for over a week. Moreover, children's memory for the object names was related both to their vocabulary skill and to their proficiency in establishing reference incrementally based on information at the verb. In Study 2, children used their knowledge about familiar objects and the locations in which they typically appear to rapidly establish reference. Children's proficiency in making this kind of inference was related to their vocabulary skills. In Study 3, children combined their knowledge about the names of locations and the names of objects to interpret complex spoken sentences, guiding their attention to an object even before it was named. Children's predictive listening was again related to their vocabulary skills. In Study 4, children used their knowledge about locations to rapidly guide their attention to objects in their environment, even when the objects were unfamiliar. And again, children took advantage of these opportunities to map novel words to the unfamiliar objects. As in Study 1, children's ability to remember the names of the unfamiliar objects was related to their proficiency in establishing reference based on the names of locations. These studies show that words other than object names can guide children's attention to familiar or novel objects, providing opportunities to create or strengthen connections between words and objects.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2014 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Bion, Ricardo A. H |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Psychology. |
| Primary advisor | Fernald, Anne |
| Thesis advisor | Fernald, Anne |
| Thesis advisor | Frank, Michael C, (Professor of human biology) |
| Thesis advisor | Markman, Ellen M |
| Advisor | Frank, Michael C, (Professor of human biology) |
| Advisor | Markman, Ellen M |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Ricardo A. H. Bion. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Psychology. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2014. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2014 by Ricardo Augusto Hoffmann Bion
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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