Input Vs Constraints: Early Word Acquisition in Korean and English

Abstract

The role of constraints on word meanings in helping children acquire object names has recently been questioned. For instance, Gopnik and Choi (1990, 1995) argued that the prevalence of object names among early words in languages such as English could be accounted for by the prevalence and salience of nouns in the input. The present studies compared linguistic input and early vocabularies in Korean and English. Far more verbs than nouns appeared in salient positions in Korean adults′ speech to infants, whereas the opposite was true for English (Study 1). Nonetheless, both Korean- and English- speaking infants acquired nouns-mostly object names-much faster than verbs (Studies 2a, 2b, and 2c). These results suggest that constraints on word meanings, more so than natural variations in input, are important for explaining basic patterns of semantic development across languages. © 1994 Academic Press. All rights reserved.