Semantic Development

• comprehension of 1st words


  8-10 months comprehend 1st words (before producing), 11 months comprehend about 50 words, early in development comprehension of words relies on context
• before words come...


  phonetically consistent forms, a.k.a. protowords
• before 12 months but about after 10...


  comprehension of some words develop first
• first words occur at


  about 12 months
• when is a production a word?

  intentional production, pronunciation approximates (resembles) the adult form, child uses it consistently and generalizes to new contexts

  
  

  ex: a child consistently says "ba" to refer to a ball: if a child intentionally produces it, the pronunciation somewhat resembles the adult form of "ball," the child consistently uses it when referring to balls, and they also generalize its use to new contexts (e.g., seeing a different ball or talking about playing with a ball), then "ba" is a word
• number of words produced at 12 mo


  about 1 word
• word spurt


  at about 50-100 words an explosion in world learning occurs, and at about 15-21 months an explosion in word learning occurs
• what do kids' first words sound like?


  short, CV or VC (then CVC), share phonetic features with other early words, simplify the form (make phonological errors)
• what do kids' first words mean?


  tend to be nouns that refer to concrete things (often people), words used for social interactions (hi, bye, please, etc.), verbs that refer to clear/visible actions
• fast mapping


  learn a word quickly, mapping meaning onto phonological form, quickly develop a quick definition of a new word

  
  

  ex: chocolate example from class
• slow mapping


  learn more a word through a longer process, learning a new form of the word/thing to add to definition over time

  
  

  ex: eating new chocolate to find out more about what it is and if you like it
• incidental learning


  learning happens on the side from interactions/observations

  
  

  ex: at the zoo, someone saying "look it's a zebra" around a child and they hear it
• object scope/preference (mapping new words)


  assume the label is an object (not an action), assume the label is a whole object (not a part of it)
• shape bias (mapping new words)


  assume a word refers to the shape, not other features (color, texture, etc.), shape defines the whole word
• mutual exclusion/novel name (mapping new words)


  nameless object, assume a new word refers to an object without a name (new thing)

  
  

  ex: dog hearing a new word for a toy and understanding that the toy they've never seen is a new object
• prototypes


  a mental image or best example of a category, first learn the prototype and then other examples
• under extension/generalization


  use a word for fewer referents than it should be

  
  

  ex: only calling some dogs a dog, not all
• over extension/generalization


  use a word for more referents than it should be

  
  

  ex: calling most women "mom"
• individual differences in word learning


  girls have larger vocabularies than boys at young ages, birth order (1st borns have more advanced lexicon and grammar/vocab, later borns have more advanced conversation), lower socioeconomic status is related to lower vocabulary, amount of language input (less language input is related to lower vocabulary)
• a word is...


  form + content
• oral/verbal modality


  phonological form + meaning
• written modality


  written form + meaning
• arbitrary words


  symbolic, the relationship between the word and what it stands for is random, subjective, or coincidental, although we do have onomatopoeias & sound symbolism
• conventional words


  a word and a concept are not the same
• phonetically consistent forms/protowords


  consistent production, meaningful/intentional use, sounds used to produce words do not approximate (resemble) the adult form, may use the same form for many referents
• referent


  the objects, actions, or concepts that a person is referring to or representing with their words
• number of words produced at 18 mo


  about 50 words
• number of words produced at 24 mo


  about 250-300 words
• ways that words are learnt


  fast mapping, slow mapping, incidental learning