20-Month-Olds Selectively Generalize Newly Learned Word Meanings Based on Cues to Linguistic Community Membership

Autor/inn/en	Weatherhead, Drew; Werker, Janet F.
Titel	20-Month-Olds Selectively Generalize Newly Learned Word Meanings Based on Cues to Linguistic Community Membership
Quelle	In: Developmental Science, 25 (2022) 4, (12 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Werker, Janet F.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1467-7687
DOI	10.1111/desc.13234
Schlagwörter	Toddlers; Familiarity; Race; Generalization; Vocabulary Development; Semantics; Child Language; Linguistic Competence + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Infant; Infants; Toddler; Kleinkind; Rasse; Abstammung; Wortschatzarbeit; Semantik; 'Children''s language'; Kindersprache; Sprachkompetenz
Abstract	A growing body of work suggests that speaker-race influences how infants and toddlers interpret the meanings of words. In two experiments, we explored the role of speaker-race on whether newly learned word-object pairs are generalized to new speakers. Seventy-two 20-month-olds were taught two word-object pairs from a familiar race speaker, and two different word-object pairs from an unfamiliar race speaker (four new pairs total). Using an intermodal preferential looking procedure, their interpretation of these new word-object pairs was tested using an unpictured novel speaker. We found that toddlers did not generalize word meanings taught by an unfamiliar race speaker to a new speaker (Experiment 1), unless given evidence that the unfamiliar race speaker was a member of the child's linguistic community through affiliative behaviour and linguistic competence (Experiment 2). In both experiments, generalization was observed for the word-object pairs taught by the familiar race speaker. These experiments indicate that children attend to speakers' non-linguistic properties, and this, in turn, can influence the perceived relevance of speakers' labels. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2022/4/11