Young children's use of syntactic cues to learn proper names and count nouns.

Abstract

In 6 experiments, 144 toddlers were tested in groups ranging in mean age from 20 to 37 months. In all experiments, children learned a novel label for a doll or a stuffed animal. The label was modeled syntactically as either a count noun (e.g., "This is a ZAV") or a proper name (e.g., "This is ZAV"). The object was then moved to a new location in front of the child, and a second identical-looking object was placed nearby. The children's task was to choose 1 of the 2 objects as a referent for the novel word. By 24 months, both girls (Experiment 2) and boys (Experiment 5) were significantly more likely to select the labeled object if they heard a proper name than if they heard a count noun. At 20 months, neither girls (Experiments 1 and 6) nor boys (Experiment 1) demonstrated this effect. By their 2nd birthdays, children can use syntactic information to distinguish appropriately between labels for individual objects and those for object categories.

Preschoolers' Use of Form Class Cues to Learn Descriptive Proper Names

“…These results build on previous findings that suggest that children as young as 2 years can interpret conventional nondescriptive proper names (e.g., ''This is Dax'') as designating rather than describing individuals (e.g., Gelman & Taylor, 1984;Hall, 1991;Hall et al, 2001;Imai & Haryu, 2001;Jaswal & Markman, 2001;Katz et al, 1974;Liittschwager & Markman, 1993;Macnamara, 1982;Sorrentino, 2001). The current findings reveal that by 4 years of age, children's ability to interpret proper names appropriately has grown to encompass not only those that are purely conventional but also those that have some descriptive meaning.…”

“…First, to what extent did the descriptiveness of the proper names pose a measurable problem for preschoolers? Previous findings indicate that children as young as 2 years map nondescriptive proper names to unique individuals (e.g., Hall et al, 2001;Sorrentino, 2001). Perhaps children's performance in Experiment 1 reflected their difficulty in tracking the target individual through our transformation task, and this procedural difficulty obscured their ability to use the form class cues that we provided.…”

“…Given that 2-year-olds are able to use form class cues to interpret nondescriptive proper names as designators (e.g., Hall et al, 2001;Sorrentino, 2001), we had an a priori reason to doubt that this progression reflected the initial emergence of an understanding that proper names are designators, or the first appearance of a sensitivity to the grammatical privileges of proper names. Indeed, the results of Experiment 1a revealed that both 3-and 4-yearolds were highly adept at learning nondescriptive proper names (e.g., Mr. Smith) in our transformation task.…”

“…Several researchers have discovered that young children can use these cues to interpret novel proper names appropriately. For example, the findings from a number of studies indicate that children as young as 2 years understand that a novel word modeled as a proper name (e.g., ''This is X'') designates an individual object (e.g., Gelman & Taylor, 1984;Hall, 1991;Hall, Lee, & Bélanger, 2001;Imai & Haryu, 2001;Jaswal & Markman, 2001;Katz, Baker, & Macnamara, 1974;Liittschwager & Markman, 1993;Macnamara, 1982;Sorrentino, 2001), but a novel word modeled as an adjective (e.g., ''This is an X one'') provides a description of the object (e.g., Gelman & Markman, 1985;Hall, Quantz, & Persoage, 2000;Hall, Waxman, & Hurwitz, 1993;Klibanoff & Waxman, 2000;Taylor & Gelman, 1988;Waxman, 1990Waxman, , 1999Waxman & Booth, 2001;Waxman & Markow, 1998). Because preschoolers can use form class cues to acquire purely arbitrary proper names (e.g., Dax), it is possible that they can also use these cues to learn proper names that are homophones of familiar descriptive terms.…”

“…If children select the transformed original creature over a new creature that looked identical to the original target before its transformation, this would provide especially powerful evidence that preschoolers appreciate that descriptive proper names are arbitrary designators of individuals (cf. Hall et al, 2001;Sorrentino, 2001).…”