Two language acquisition processes (comprehension preceding production of word order, the noun bias) were examined in 2- and 3-year-old children (n=10) with autistic spectrum disorder and in typically developing 21-month-olds (n=13). Intermodal preferential looking was used to assess comprehension of subject-verb-object word order and the tendency…

Discusses the acquisition of verb meaning based on the premise that there is a fundamental difference between the relational meanings expressed by verbs and the referential meanings expressed by simple nouns. (JMB)

Eighteen-month-olds' spatial categorization was tested when hearing a novel spatial word. Infants formed an abstract categorical representation of support (i.e., placing 1 object on another) when hearing a novel spatial particle during habituation but not when viewing the events in silence. Infants with a productive spatial vocabulary did not…

Previous research suggests that model competence does not emerge until relatively late in infancy (20-26 months). Development was systematically analyzed within 3 key areas--count noun learning, dual representation, and categorization--hypothesized to support the emergence of model competence in the second year. In an object-handling preferential…

Examined the possibility that knowledge about hierarchical organization of categories and cross-language equivalents for object labels can help children limit use of the assumption that nouns pick out mutually exclusive object categories. Findings suggest that even preschoolers use knowledge about language and categorization to fine tune the…

In 2 experiments, 15- and 21-month-old infants were presented with a target object and asked to select an object taxonomically or thematically related to the target object. The target object was introduced with or without a novel nonsense noun. Results indicated that novel nouns focused infants' attention on taxonomic relations. (MDM)

Investigates the ability of 32 two-year-old children to use syntactic (i.e., form class) and semantic (i.e., type of referent) information to interpret the meaning of new nouns. Subjects were taught either a common noun or a proper noun for a block-like or animal-like object and then asked to select the named toy. (Author/CB)

This study examined the influence of shape similarity and labels on 13-month-olds' inductive inferences. In 3 experiments, 123 infants were presented with novel target objects with or without a nonvisible property, followed by test objects that varied in shape similarity. When objects were not labeled, infants generalized the nonvisible property…

A group of 40 preschool children, ranging in age from three to five years, were required to illustrate the meaning of reversible passive sentences in which noun animacy was systematically varied. (Author/JMB)

A series of experiments revealed that noun-category bias in children's word learning is present as early as two years of age. Findings indicate that, when children interpret the meaning of novel nouns, they do not sample randomly from the range of possible meanings but focus instead on category relations. (RH)

Assessed 2-year olds' ability to use semantic context to infer meanings of novel nouns and to retain those meanings. Found that children learned majority of novel words; however, they occasionally failed to choose the correct corresponding picture for a novel noun even when they understood the verb; also found a significant retention of newly…

In Study 1, English-speaking 3- and 4-year-olds heard a novel adjective used to label one of two objects and were asked for the referent of a different novel adjective. Children were more likely to select the unlabeled object if the two adjectives appeared prenominally (e.g., "a very DAXY dog") than as predicates (e.g., "a dog that is very DAXY").…

Third- and sixth-grade readers were asked to label sets of pictures printed with distracting words (either nouns, adjectives, or functors) and nonsense syllables. (Author/JMB)

This paper reports an investigation into the ability of a group of primary grade children to produce plural forms of selected types of real and nonsense words. (Authors)