Partial Color Word Comprehension Precedes Production

<p>Previous studies report that children use color words haphazardly before acquiring conventional, adult-like meanings. The most common explanation for this is that children do not abstract color as a domain of linguistic meaning until several months after they begin producing color words, resulting in a stage during which they produce but do not comprehend color words. Contrary to this account, the current study provides converging evidence from multiple measures that toddlers often acquire partial but systematic color word meanings <i>before</i> production, although adult meanings are acquired much later. Also, we found that whereas children’s interpretation of color words is relatively conservative before the onset of color word production, their meanings become broader and overextended upon the onset of production. These data support the idea that inductive processes of category formation, rather than problems abstracting color, explain the delay between children’s first production of color words and mastery of adult meanings.</p

Most Preschoolers Don’t Know Most

<p>Recently, researchers interested in the nature and origins of semantic representations have investigated an especially informative case study: The acquisition of the word <i>most</i>—a quantifier which by all accounts demands a sophisticated second-order logic, and which therefore poses an interesting challenge to theories of language acquisition. According to some reports, children acquire <i>most</i> as early as three years of age, suggesting that it does not draw on cardinal representations of quantity (contrary to some formal accounts), since adult-like knowledge of counting emerges later in development. Other studies, however, have provided evidence that children acquire <i>most</i> much later—possibly by the age of 6 or 7—thereby drawing this logic into question. Here we explore this issue by conducting a series of experiments that probed children’s knowledge of <i>most</i> in different ways. We conclude that children do not acquire an adult-like meaning for <i>most</i> until very late in development—around the age of 6—and that certain behaviors which appear consistent with earlier knowledge are better explained by children’s well-attested bias to select larger sets (a “more” bias), especially when tested with unfamiliar words.</p

Proportion of non-dual learning children classified as non-knowers, 1-knowers, 2-knowers, 3-knowers, 4-knowers, and CP-knowers between 22 and 60 months of age in Nova Gorica and Metlika.

<p>Proportion of non-dual learning children classified as non-knowers, 1-knowers, 2-knowers, 3-knowers, 4-knowers, and CP-knowers between 22 and 60 months of age in Nova Gorica and Metlika.</p

Average monthly income (in Euros) of residents in Ljubljana, Nova Gorica, Slovenska Bistrica, and Metlika (from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (pxweb.stat.si)).

<p>Average monthly income (in Euros) of residents in Ljubljana, Nova Gorica, Slovenska Bistrica, and Metlika (from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (<a href="http://pxweb.stat.si/" target="_blank">pxweb.stat.si</a>)).</p

Highest count data for San Diego, Metlika, Nova Gorica, Ljubljana, and Slovenska Bistrica groups.

<p>Highest count data for San Diego, Metlika, Nova Gorica, Ljubljana, and Slovenska Bistrica groups.</p

Map of dual variability across Slovenian dialects in Slovenia and neighboring areas from 0–13% penetration of dual usage (white dots) to 89–100% (black dots).

<p>See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0159208#sec015" target="_blank">SI</a> for details and source.</p