Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T20:01:02.052Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cognition and the verb lexicon in early lexical development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Cheryl A. Smith  and
Jacqueline Sachs
Cheryl A. Smith*
Affiliation:
University of Vermont
Jacqueline Sachs
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
*
Cheryl Smith, Department of Communication Science and Disorders, Allen House, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The focus of this study is the cognitive/conceptual basis for the emergence of verbs in early lexical development. Twenty-four 12–19-month-old children were studied through (a) observation and maternal report of their acquisition of verbs in comprehension and production and (b) observation of nonverbal behavior reflected in play. There is substantive growth in the comprehension of verbs during this period, with a rapid increase between 14–16 months in the total number of verbs and decontextualized verbs comprehended, but no similar surge in production. Children's ability to consider others in the role of actor during play with objects was linked to the comprehension of verbs during this period; also, the ability to engage in symbolic action sequences on objects in play correlated with the decontextualized comprehension of verbs. These results suggest that underlying cognitive development in event representation may be related to the increased comprehension of verbs across contexts.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , December 1990 , pp. 409 - 424
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barrett, M. (1985). Early semantic representations and early word usage. In Kuczaj, S. & Barrett, M. (Eds.), The development of word meaning. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Bates, E., Benigni, L., Bretherton, I., Camaioni, L., & Volterra, V. (1979). The emergence of symbols. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Benedict, H. (1979). Early lexical development: Comprehension and production. Journal of Child Language, 6, 183–200.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bloom, L. (1973). One word at a time: The use of single-word utterances before syntax. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Bretherton, I. (1988). How to do things with one word: The ontogenesis of intentional message making in infancy. In Smith, M. D. & Locke, J. L. (Eds.), The emergent lexicon. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Clark, E. (1973). What's in a word? On the child's acquisition of semantics in his first language. In Moore, T. E. (Ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Corrigan, R. (1978). Language development as related to stage VI object permanence development. Journal of Child Language, 5, 173–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dale, P., Bates, E., Reznick, J. S., & Morisset, C. (1989). THe validity of a parent report instrument of child language at twenty months. Journal of Child Language, 16, 239–249.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dromi, E. (1987). Early lexical development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fenson, L., & Ramsay, D. (1980). Decentration and integration of the child's play in the second year of life. Child Development, 51, 171–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gentner, D. (1982). Why nouns are learned before verbs: Linguistic relativity versus natural partitioning. In Kuczaj, S. (Ed.), Language development: Vol. 2. Language, thought, and culture. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S., Seligman, M., & Gelman, R. (1976). Language in the two-year-old. Cognition, 4, 189–202.Google Scholar
Golinkoff, R., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Cauley, K., & Gordon, L. (1987). The eyes have it: Lexical and syntactic comprehension in a new paradigm. Journal of Child Language, 14, 23–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gopnik, A. (1982). Words and plans: Early language and the development of intelligent action. Journal of Child Language 9, 303–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gopnik, A. (1984). The acquisition of “gone” and the development of the object concept. Journal of Child Language, 11, 273–292.Google Scholar
Gopnik, A. (1988). Three types of early word: The emergence of social words, names and cognitive-relational words in the one-word stage and their relation to cognitive development. First Language, 8, 49–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gopnik, A., & Meltzoff, A. (1984). Some specific relationships between semantic and cognitive development in the one-word stage. Paper presented at the Third International Congress for the Study of Child Language, Austin, TX.Google Scholar
Gopnik, A., & Meltzoff, A. (1986a). Relationship between semantic and cognitive development in the one-word stage: The specificity hypothesis. Child Development, 57, 1040–1053.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gopnik, A., & Meltzoff, A. (1986b). Words, plans, things, and locations: Interaction between semantic and cognitive development in the one-word stage. In Kuczaj, S. & Barrett, M. (Eds.), The development of word meaning. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Locke, J. L. (1988). The sound shape of early lexical representations. In Smith, M. D. & Locke, J. L. (Eds.), The emergent lexicon. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Lucariello, J., & Rifkin, A. (1986). Event representation as the basis for categorical knowledge. In Nelson, K. (Ed.), Event knowledge: Structure and function in development. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
McCune-Nicolich, L. (1980). A manual for analyzing free play. Unpublished manuscript, Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.Google Scholar
McCune-Nicolich, L. (1981). Cognitive bases of relational words in the single-word period. Journal of Child Language, 8, 15–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Menn, L. (1983). Development of articulatory, phonetic, and phonological capabilities. In Butterworth, B. (Ed.), Language production (Vol. 2). New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1973). Structure and strategy in learning to talk. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 38 (1–2, Serial No. 149).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, K. (1974). Concept, word and sentence: Interrelations in acquisition and development. Psychological Review, 81, 267–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, K. (1983). The derivation of concepts and categories from event representations. In Scholnick, E. (Ed.), New trends in conceptual representations: Challenges to Piaget's theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. 1985). Making sense: The acquisition of shared meaning. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1986). Event knowledge: Structure and function in development. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Nelson, K., & Lucariello, J. (1985). The development of meaning in first words. In Barrett, M. (Ed.), Children's single-word speech. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Nelson, K., Rescorla, L., Gruendel, J., & Benedict, H. (1978). Early lexicons: What do they mean? Child Development, 49, 960–968.Google Scholar
Reznick, J. S., & Goldsmith, L. (1989). A multiple form word production checklist for assessing early language. Journal of Child Language, 16, 91–100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schwartz, R., & Leonard, L. (1984). Words, objects, and actions in early lexical acquisition. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 27, 119–127.Google Scholar
Shank, R., & Abelson, R. (1977). Scripts, plans, goals and understanding. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Snyder, L., Bates, E., & Bretherton, I. (1981). Content and context in early lexical development. Journal of Child Language, 8, 565–582.Google Scholar
Sugarman, S. (1983). Children's early thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M., & Farrar, M. (1984). Cognitive bases of lexical development: Object permanence and relational words. Journal of Child Language, 11, 477–493.Google Scholar
Vihman, M. M. (1982). A note on children's lexical representations. Journal of Child Language, 8, 239–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werner, H., & Kaplan, B. (1963). Symbolic formation. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Wolf, D. (1983). The origins of distinct symbolic domains: The waves of early symbolization. Paper presented at the Society for Research in Child Development, Detroit.Google Scholar