1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Review of Cognitive Linguistics. Published under the auspices of the Spanish Cognitive Linguistics Association
  4. Volume 18, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 18, Issue 2
  • ISSN 1877-9751
  • E-ISSN: 1877-976X
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

One of the most important tasks for language learning children is the identification of the grammatical category to which words belong. This is essential in order to be able to form grammatically correct utterances. The present study investigates how phonological information might help English-learning infants in the categorization of nouns. We analyze four different corpora of English child-directed speech in order to explore the reliability with which words are represented in mothers’ speech based on several phonological criteria. The results of the analysis confirm the prediction that most of the nouns to which English-learning children are exposed share several phonological characteristics, which would allow their early classification in the same grammatical category.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/rcl.00063.fei
2020-12-04
2023-10-03

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/rcl.00063.fei
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Bassano, D.
    (2000) Early development of nouns and verbs in French: Exploring the interface between lexicon and grammar. Journal of Child Language, 27, 521–559. 10.1017/S0305000900004396
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900004396 [Google Scholar]
  2. Brooks, P. B., Braine, M. D. S., Catalano, L., Brody, R. E., & Sudhalter, V.
    (1993) Acquistion of gender-like noun subclasses in an artificial language: The contribution of phonological markers to learning. Journal of Memory and Language, 32, 79–95. 10.1006/jmla.1993.1005
     https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1993.1005 [Google Scholar]
  3. Cassidy, K. W0., & Kelly, M. H.
    (1991) Phonological information for grammatical category assignments. Journal of Memory and Language, 30, 348–369. 10.1016/0749‑596X(91)90041‑H
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-596X(91)90041-H [Google Scholar]
  4. Cassidy, K. W., & Kelly, M. H.
    (2001) Children’s use of phonology to infer grammatical class in vocabulary learning. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 8, 519–523. 10.3758/BF03196187
     https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196187 [Google Scholar]
  5. Christiansen, M. H., & Monaghan, P.
    (2016) Division of labor in vocabulary structure: Insights from corpus analyses. Topics in Cognitive Science, 8, 610–624. 10.1111/tops.12164
     https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12164 [Google Scholar]
  6. (2006) Discovering verbs through multiple-cue integration. InR. M. Golinkoff & K. Hirsh-Pasek (Eds.), Action meets word: How children learn verbs (pp.88–107). New York: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195170009.003.0004
     https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195170009.003.0004 [Google Scholar]
  7. Christiansen, M. H., Onnis, L., & Hockema, S. A.
    (2009) The secret is in the sound: From unsegmented speech to lexical categories. Developmental Science, 12, 388–395. 10.1111/j.1467‑7687.2009.00824.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00824.x [Google Scholar]
  8. Christophe, A., Millotte, S., Bernal, S., & Lidz, J.
    (2008) Bootstrapping lexical and syntactic acquisition. Language and Speech, 51, 61–75. 10.1177/00238309080510010501
     https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309080510010501 [Google Scholar]
  9. Cutler, A.
    (1993) Phonological cues to open- and closed-class words in the processing of spoken sentences. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 22, 109–131.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Cyr, M., & Shi, R.
    (2013) Development of abstract grammatical categorization in infants. Child Development, 84, 617–629. 10.1111/j.1467‑8624.2012.01869.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01869.x [Google Scholar]
  11. Durieux, G., & Gillis, S.
    (2001) Predicting grammatical classes from phonological cues: An empirical test. InJ. Weissenborn & B. Höhle (Eds.), Approaches to bootstrapping: Phonological, lexical, syntactic and neurophysiological aspects of early language acquisition (pp.189–229). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 10.1075/lald.23.13dur
     https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.23.13dur [Google Scholar]
  12. Feijoo, S., Muñoz, C., Amadó, A., & Serrat, E.
    (2017) When meaning is not enough: Distributional and semantic cues to word categorization in child directed speech. Frontiers in Psychology, 8(1242), 1–11.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Feijoo, S., Muñoz, C., & Serrat, E.
    (2015) Morphosyntactic cues to noun categorization in English child-directed speech. Language and Communication, 45, 1–11. 10.1016/j.langcom.2015.07.001
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2015.07.001 [Google Scholar]
  14. Feijoo, S., & Serrat, E.
    (2011) The usefulness of phonological information for the acquisition of grammatical structure in child language development. INFAD. Psicología de la Infancia y la Adolescencia, 1, 473–482.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Fitneva, S. A., Christiansen, M. H., & Monaghan, P.
    (2009) From sound to syntax: Phonological constraints on children’s lexical categorization of new words. Journal of Child Language, 36, 967–997. 10.1017/S0305000908009252
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000908009252 [Google Scholar]
  16. Gerken, L. A., Wilson, R., & Lewis, W.
    (2005) Seventeen-month-olds can use distributional cues to form syntactic categories. Journal of Child Language, 32, 249–268. 10.1017/S0305000904006786
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000904006786 [Google Scholar]
  17. Gleitman, L., Cassidy, K., Nappa, R., Papafragou, A., & Trueswell, J. C.
    (2005) Hard Words. Language Learning and Development, 1(1), 23–64. 10.1207/s15473341lld0101_4
     https://doi.org/10.1207/s15473341lld0101_4 [Google Scholar]
  18. Gout, A., Christophe, A., & Morgan, J. L.
    (2004) Phonological phrase boundaries constrain lexical access II. Infant data. Journal of Memory and Language, 51(4), 548–567. 10.1016/j.jml.2004.07.002
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2004.07.002 [Google Scholar]
  19. Gutman, A., Dautriche, I., Crabbé, B., & Christophe, A.
    (2015) Bootstrapping the syntactic bootstrapper: Probabilistic labeling of prosodic phrases. Language Acquisition, 22(3), 285–309. 10.1080/10489223.2014.971956
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10489223.2014.971956 [Google Scholar]
  20. Jusczyk, P. W., Houston, D. M., & Newsome, M.
    (1999) The beginnings of word segmentation in English-learning infants. Cognitive Psychology, 39, 159–207. 10.1006/cogp.1999.0716
     https://doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1999.0716 [Google Scholar]
  21. Kelly, M. H.
    (1992) Using sound to solve syntactic problems: The role of phonology in grammatical category assignments. Psychological Review, 99, 349–364. 10.1037/0033‑295X.99.2.349
     https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.99.2.349 [Google Scholar]
  22. (1996) The role of phonology in grammatical category assignments. InJ. L. Morgan & K. Demuth (Eds.), Signal to syntax: Bootstrapping from speech to grammar in early acquisition (pp.249–262). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Lany, J.
    (2014) Judging words by their covers and the company they keep: Probabilistic cues support word learning. Child Development, 85(4), 1727–1739. doi:  10.1111/cdev.12199
     https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12199 [Google Scholar]
  24. Lany, J., & Gómez, R. L.
    (2013) Probabilistically cued patterns trump perfect cues in statistical language learning. Language Learning and Development, 9(1), 66–87. 10.1080/15475441.2012.685826
     https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2012.685826 [Google Scholar]
  25. Lany, J., & Saffran, J. R.
    (2010) From statistics to meaning: Infant acquisition of lexical categories. Psychological Science, 21, 284–291. doi:  10.1177/0956797609358570
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797609358570 [Google Scholar]
  26. MacWhinney, B.
    (2000) The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk. 3rd edition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Mintz, T. H.
    (2003) Frequent frames as a cue for grammatical categories in child directed speech. Cognition, 90, 91–117. 10.1016/S0010‑0277(03)00140‑9
     https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(03)00140-9 [Google Scholar]
  28. Monaghan, P., Chater, N., & Christiansen, M. H.
    (2005) The differential contribution of phonological and distributional cues in grammatical categorisation. Cognition, 96, 143–182. 10.1016/j.cognition.2004.09.001
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2004.09.001 [Google Scholar]
  29. Monaghan, P., Christiansen, M. H., & Chater, N.
    (2007) The phonological-distributional coherence hypothesis: Cross-linguistic evidence in language acquisition. Cognitive Psychology, 55, 259–305. 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2006.12.001
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2006.12.001 [Google Scholar]
  30. Morgan, J. L., Shi, R., & Allopenna, P.
    (1996) Perceptual bases of rudimentary grammatical categories: Toward a broader conceptualization of bootstrapping. InJ. L. Morgan & K. Demuth (Eds.), Signal to syntax: Bootstrapping from speech to grammar in early acquisition (pp.262–293). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Shi, R.
    (2014) Functional morphemes and early language acquisition. Child Development Perspectives, 8(1), 6–11. 10.1111/cdep.12052
     https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12052 [Google Scholar]
  32. Shi, R., & Moisan, A.
    (2008) Prosodic cues to noun and verb categories in infant-directed speech. Proceedings of the thirty-second Boston university conference on language development (pp.450–461). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Shi, R., Morgan, J., & Allopenna, P.
    (1998) Phonological and acoustic bases for earliest grammatical category assignment: A cross-linguistic perspective. Journal of Child Language, 25, 169–201. 10.1017/S0305000997003395
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000997003395 [Google Scholar]
  34. Shi, R., & Werker, J. F.
    (2003) The basis of preference for lexical wordsin six-month-old infants. Developmental Science, 6, 484–488. 10.1111/1467‑7687.00305
     https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7687.00305 [Google Scholar]
  35. Swingley, D.
    (2005) Statistical clustering and the contents of the infant vocabulary. Cognitive Psychology, 50, 86–132. 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2004.06.001
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2004.06.001 [Google Scholar]
  36. Theakston, A. L., Lieven, E. V., Pine, J., & Rowland, C. F.
    (2001) The role of performance limitations in the acquisition of verb-argument structure: an alternative account. Journal of Child Language, 28, 127–152. 10.1017/S0305000900004608
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900004608 [Google Scholar]
  37. Tomasello, M., & P. J. Brooks
    (1999) Early syntactic development: A construction grammar account. InM. Barrett (Ed.), The development of language (pp.161–190). London: Hove Psychology Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Tomasello, M., & R. Olguin
    (1993) Twenty-three-month-old children have a grammatical category of noun. Cognitive Development, 8, 451–464. 10.1016/S0885‑2014(05)80004‑8
     https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-2014(05)80004-8 [Google Scholar]
  39. Trecca, F., Bleses, D., Madsen, T. O., & Christiansen, M. H.
    (2018) Does sound structure affect word learning? An eye-tracking study of Danish learning toddlers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 167, 180–203. 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.10.011
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.10.011 [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1075/rcl.00063.fei
Loading
The strength of phonological cues for noun categorization in child-directed speech
Review of Cognitive Linguistics. Published under the auspices of the Spanish Cognitive Linguistics Association 18, 350 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00063.fei
/content/journals/10.1075/rcl.00063.fei
/content/journals/10.1075/rcl.00063.fei
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): child-directed speech; language development; linguistic input; phonological cues; word categorization

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error