ERIC Number: EJ1316429
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Dec
Pages: 28
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0023-8333
EISSN: N/A
Syntactic Prediction Adaptation Accounts for Language Processing and Language Learning
Language Learning, v71 n4 p1194-1221 Dec 2021
A previous study has shown that children use recent input to adapt their syntactic predictions and use these adapted predictions to infer the meaning of novel words. In the current study, we investigated whether children could use this mechanism to disambiguate words whose interpretation as a noun or a verb is ambiguous. We tested 2- to 4-year-old French children using the phrase "la petite" followed by a homophone that could be interpreted as either a noun or a verb. We assigned the children to a noun condition or a verb condition. Before the test, those in the noun condition were exposed to sentences where "la petite" predicted nouns, and those in the verb condition to sentences where "la petite" predicted verbs. At testing, 3- to 4-year-olds, but not 2-year-olds, from the verb condition looked at the verb interpretation longer than did the children in the noun condition. This suggests a progression in children's ability to rely on input to adapt their predictions in language comprehension.
Descriptors: Syntax, Prediction, Linguistic Input, Inferences, Vocabulary Development, Phrase Structure, Verbs, Language Processing, Nouns, French, Language Usage, Foreign Countries, Preschool Children, Language Tests, Ambiguity (Semantics), Language Acquisition
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://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: France
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Data File: URL: https://osf.io/qnt93/?view_only=cf930630a087406fa16961b65182009a