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Article: The principle of mutual exclusivity in word learning: to honor or not to honor?

TitleThe principle of mutual exclusivity in word learning: to honor or not to honor?
Authors
Issue Date1990
PublisherBlackwell Publishing, Inc. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journals/CDEV
Citation
Child Development, 1990, v. 61 n. 5, p. 1474-1490 How to Cite?
AbstractAccording to Markman and Wachtel, children assume that nouns pick out mutually exclusive object categories, and so each object should have only one category label. While this assumption can be useful in word learning, it is not entirely reliable. Therefore, children need to learn when to and when not to make this assumption. 6 studies examined whether knowledge about hierarchical organization of categories and about cross-language equivalents for object labels can help children limit their use of this assumption appropriately. These studies revealed that adults as well as children resisted assigning 2 novel names to the same object in some situations. By age 4, children also seemed to know enough about categorization to accept 2 names for an object if the names picked out categories from different levels of a hierarchy (e.g., animal and lemur) but not if they picked out categories from the same level (e.g., lemur and seal). Moreover, monolingual as well as bilingual children seemed to know enough about languages to accept 2 names for the same object if the names clearly came from different languages. Together, these findings suggest that even preschool children can make use of knowledge about language and categorization to fine tune the mutual exclusivity assumption in order to use it effectively in word learning.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/132044
ISSN
2023 Impact Factor: 3.9
2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 2.082
ISI Accession Number ID

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorAu, TKen_HK
dc.contributor.authorGlusman, Men_HK
dc.date.accessioned2011-03-07T08:27:48Z-
dc.date.available2011-03-07T08:27:48Z-
dc.date.issued1990en_HK
dc.identifier.citationChild Development, 1990, v. 61 n. 5, p. 1474-1490en_HK
dc.identifier.issn0009-3920en_HK
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/132044-
dc.description.abstractAccording to Markman and Wachtel, children assume that nouns pick out mutually exclusive object categories, and so each object should have only one category label. While this assumption can be useful in word learning, it is not entirely reliable. Therefore, children need to learn when to and when not to make this assumption. 6 studies examined whether knowledge about hierarchical organization of categories and about cross-language equivalents for object labels can help children limit their use of this assumption appropriately. These studies revealed that adults as well as children resisted assigning 2 novel names to the same object in some situations. By age 4, children also seemed to know enough about categorization to accept 2 names for an object if the names picked out categories from different levels of a hierarchy (e.g., animal and lemur) but not if they picked out categories from the same level (e.g., lemur and seal). Moreover, monolingual as well as bilingual children seemed to know enough about languages to accept 2 names for the same object if the names clearly came from different languages. Together, these findings suggest that even preschool children can make use of knowledge about language and categorization to fine tune the mutual exclusivity assumption in order to use it effectively in word learning.en_HK
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherBlackwell Publishing, Inc. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journals/CDEVen_HK
dc.relation.ispartofChild developmenten_HK
dc.rightsThe definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com-
dc.titleThe principle of mutual exclusivity in word learning: to honor or not to honor?en_HK
dc.typeArticleen_HK
dc.identifier.openurlhttp://library.hku.hk:4550/resserv?sid=HKU:IR&issn=0009-3920&volume=61&issue=5&spage=1474&epage=1490&date=1990&atitle=THE+PRINCIPLE+OF+MUTUAL+EXCLUSIVITY+IN+WORD+LEARNING+-+TO+HONOR+OR+NOT+TO+HONOR-
dc.identifier.emailAu, TK:terryau@hkucc.hku.hken_HK
dc.identifier.authorityAu, TK=rp00580en_HK
dc.description.naturelink_to_subscribed_fulltext-
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02876.x-
dc.identifier.pmid2245739-
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-0025501895en_HK
dc.identifier.volume61en_HK
dc.identifier.issue5en_HK
dc.identifier.spage1474en_HK
dc.identifier.epage1490en_HK
dc.identifier.isiWOS:A1990ED70000015-
dc.publisher.placeUnited Statesen_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridAu, TK=9435174900en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridGlusman, M=7003639403en_HK
dc.identifier.issnl0009-3920-

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