English-Learning Preschoolers Can Correctly Parse and Interpret Negative Sentences to Guide Their Interpretations of Novel Noun and Verb Meanings

Autor/inn/en	de Carvalho, Alex; Gomes, Victor; Trueswell, John
Titel	English-Learning Preschoolers Can Correctly Parse and Interpret Negative Sentences to Guide Their Interpretations of Novel Noun and Verb Meanings
Quelle	In: Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 30 (2023) 3-4, S.277-310 (34 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (de Carvalho, Alex) ORCID (Gomes, Victor)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1048-9223
DOI	10.1080/10489223.2022.2137805
Schlagwörter	English; Native Language; Language Acquisition; Classification; Nouns; Semantics; Morphemes; Preschool Children; Learning Processes; Language Processing; Vocabulary Development; Auditory Perception; Verbs; Eye Movements; Task Analysis; Sentence Structure + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? English language; Englisch; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb; Classification system; Klassifikation; Klassifikationssystem; Semantik; Morphem; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Learning process; Lernprozess; Sprachverarbeitung; Wortschatzarbeit; Auditive Wahrnehmung; Akustische Wahrnehmung; Akustik; Augenbewegung; Aufgabenanalyse; Satzbau; Satzstruktur
Abstract	We studied English-learning children's ability to learn the meanings of novel words from sentences containing truth-functional negation (Exp1) and to use the semantics of negation to inform word meaning (Exp2). In Exp1, 22-month-olds (n = 21) heard dialogues introducing a novel verb in either negative-transitive "("Mary didn't blick the baby")" or negative-intransitive "("Mary didn't blick")" sentences. When then asked to "Find blicking!" while viewing two-participant versus one-participant actions, children who heard negative-transitive sentences looked longer at the two-participant event than children who heard negative-intransitives. Thus, the mere presence of negation does not disrupt sentence processing and word learning in young children. Experiment 2 tested whether 2-to-4-year-olds (n = 20) use the semantics of negation to restrict the meaning of novel nouns when categorizing objects varying along a perceptual continuum (from 10 to 90% exemplars). Children initially heard ""These are blickets"" paired with certain exemplars (e.g., yellowish creatures, exemplars 10 and 30%). They then saw additional exemplars (e.g., pinkish creatures, 70 and 90%) while hearing either ""These are not blickets"" (negative condition) or ""These are also blickets"" (affirmative condition). At test, when seeing two novel exemplars from the continuum (e.g., creatures 20 and 80%) and asked to find "a blicket," children in the negative condition selected the exemplar from the bottom of the continuum (i.e., the 20%) more often than children in the affirmative condition. Thus, English-learning children as young as 22-months of age correctly parse negative sentences and 2-to-4-year-olds can use negation to understand the boundaries of a word's meaning. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01