Article Abstract:
A series of experiments on cross-linguistic and developmental observations among French- and Spanish-speaking preschool-aged children was conducted to examine the existence and specificity of linkages between count nouns and object categories. Results revealed that children's interpretation and understanding of novel words presented as nouns were the same for the languages studied. Aside from providing important insights on issues of acquisition, the experiment also provided knowledge on theories concerning the existence, specificity and universality of noun-category linkage.
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Article Abstract:
Auditory stimulation through word phrases have facilitative effects on object categorization in nine-month old infants, indicating infants' emerging appreciation of language during the first year of life. Three familiarization experiments show that tone-, word- and content-filtered word-sounds enhance infants' visual attention to object categories. Silent familiarization trials fail to elicit such prolonged attention. The familiarization effects of word phrases are due to the influences of infant-directed speech and novel words.
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Article Abstract:
A linkage between words and object categories serves as infants' guide in mapping words to meanings. This was revealed by the results of three experiments aimed at finding out whether and how novel words influence object categorization in 12- t0 13-month-old infants. Nouns and adjectives, in particular, focused infants' attention on object categories. A relationship between infants' appreciation of the linkage between words and object categories and their progress in word learning was also found.
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