Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:58:41.910Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Do children acquire dense neighborhoods? An investigation of similarity neighborhoods in lexical acquisition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2004

HOLLY L. STORKEL
HOLLY L. STORKEL
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study tests the claim that children acquire collections of phonologically similar word forms, namely, dense neighborhoods. Age of acquisition (AoA) norms were obtained from two databases: parent report of infant and toddler production and adult self-ratings of AoA. Neighborhood density, word frequency, word length, Density×Frequency and Density×Length were analyzed as potential predictors of AoA using linear regression. Early acquired words were higher in density, higher in word frequency, and shorter in length than late acquired words. Significant interactions provided evidence that the lexical factors predicting AoA varied, depending on the type of word being learned. The implication of these findings for lexical acquisition and language learning are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , April 2004 , pp. 201 - 221
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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

Bard E., & Shillcock R. 1993 Competitor effects during lexical access: Chasing Zipf's tail. In G. Altmann & R. Shillcock (Eds.), Cognitive models of speech processing (pp. 235– 275). Hove, UK: Erlbaum.
Bird H., Franklin S., & Howard D. 2001 Age of acquisition and imageability ratings for a large set of words, including verbs and function words. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 33, 73– 79.Google Scholar
Carroll J. B., & White M. N. 1973a Age-of-acquisition norms for 220 picturable nouns. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 12, 563– 576.Google Scholar
Carroll J. B., & White M. N. 1973b Word frequency and age of acquisition as determiners of picture-naming latency. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 25, 85– 95.Google Scholar
Charles–Luce J., & Luce P. A. 1990 Similarity neighbourhoods of words in young children's lexicons. Journal of Child Language, 17, 205– 215.Google Scholar
Charles–Luce J., & Luce P. A. 1995 An examination of similarity neighbourhoods in young children's receptive vocabularies. Journal of Child Language, 22, 727– 735.Google Scholar
Cluff M. S., & Luce P. A. 1990 Similarity neighborhoods of spoken two-syllable words: Retroactive effects on multiple activation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 16, 551– 563.Google Scholar
Dale P. S., & Fenson L. 1996 Lexical development norms for young children. Behavioral Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 28, 125– 127.Google Scholar
Fenson L., Dale P. S., Reznick J. S., Bates E., Thal D., & Pethick S. 1994 Variability in early communicative development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(5).Google Scholar
Fenson L., Dale P. S., Reznick J. S., Thal D., Bates E., Hartung J. P., Pethick S., & Reilly J. S. 1993 The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories: User's guide and technical manual. San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing.
Ferguson C. A., & Farwell C. B. 1975 Words and sounds in early language acquisition. Language, 51, 419– 439.Google Scholar
Garlock V. M., Walley A. C., & Metsala J. L. 2001 Age-of-acquisition, word frequency, and neighborhood density effects on spoken word recognition by children and adults. Journal of Memory and Language, 45, 468– 492.Google Scholar
Gathercole S. E., & Baddeley A. D. 1993 Working memory and language. Hove, UK: Erlbaum.
Gierut J. A., & Morrisette M. L. 1998 Lexical properties in implementation of sound change. In A. Greenhill, M. Hughes, H. Littlefield, & H. Walsh (Eds.), Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 257– 268). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Gierut J. A., Morrisette M. L., & Champion A. H. 1999 Lexical constraints in phonological acquisition. Journal of Child Language, 26, 261– 294.Google Scholar
Gierut J. A., & Storkel H. L. 2002 Markedness and the grammar in lexical diffusion of fricatives. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 16, 115– 134.Google Scholar
Gilhooly K. J., & Gilhooly M. L. 1980 The validity of age-of-acquisition ratings. British Journal of Psychology, 71, 105– 110.Google Scholar
Gilhooly K. J., & Logie R. H. 1980 Age-of-acquisition, imagery, concreteness, familiarity, and ambiguity measures for 1,944 words. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 12, 395– 427.Google Scholar
Goldinger S. D. 1998 Echoes of echoes? An episodic theory of lexical access. Psychological Review, 105, 251– 279.Google Scholar
Goldinger S. D., Luce P. A., & Pisoni D. B. 1989 Priming lexical neighbors of spoken words: Effects of competition and inhibition. Journal of Memory and Language, 28, 501– 518.Google Scholar
Goldin–Meadow S., Seligman M., & Gelman R. 1976 Language in the two-year-old. Cognition, 4, 189– 202.Google Scholar
Hollich G., Jusczyk P. W., & Luce P. A. 2002 Lexical neighborhood effects in 17-month-old word learning. In B. Skarabela, S. Fish, & A. H.-J. Do (Eds.), Proceedings of the 26th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (Vol. 1). Sommerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Jorm A. F. 1991 The validity of word age-of-acquisition ratings: A longitudinal study of a child's word knowledge. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9, 437– 444.Google Scholar
Jusczyk P. W., Luce P. A., & Charles–Luce J. 1994 Infants' sensitivity to phonotactic patterns in the native language. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 630– 645.Google Scholar
Kleinbaum D. G., Kupper L. L., & Muller K. E. 1988 Applied regression analysis and other multivariable methods (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Duxbury Press.
Kolson C. J. 1960 The vocabulary of kindergarten children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
Landauer T. K., & Streeter L. A. 1973 Structural differences between common and rare words: Failure of equivalence assumptions for theories of word recognition. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 12, 119– 131.Google Scholar
Leonard L. B., Schwartz R. G., Chapman K., Rowan L. E., Prelock P. A., Terrell B., Weiss A. L., & Messick C. 1982 Early lexical acquisition in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 25, 554– 564.Google Scholar
Levelt W. J. M. 1989 Speaking: From intention to articulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Little T. D., Hoffman L., Bovaird J., & Widaman K. F. 2002 On the merits of orthogonalizing powered and interaction terms: Implications for modeling interactions among latent variables. Paper presented at the Society for Multivariate Experimental Psychology.
Logan J. S. 1992 A computational analysis of young children's lexicons (Tech. Rep. No. 8). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, Speech Research Laboratory.
Luce P. A., Goldinger S. D., Auer E. T., & Vitevitch M. S. 2000 Phonetic priming, neighborhood activation, and PARSYN. Perception & Psychophysics, 62, 615– 625.Google Scholar
Luce P. A., & Pisoni D. B. 1998 Recognizing spoken words: The neighborhood activation model. Ear and Hearing, 19, 1– 36.Google Scholar
Metsala J. L. 1997 An examination of word frequency and neighborhood density in the development of spoken-word recognition. Memory and Cognition, 25, 47– 56.Google Scholar
Metsala J. L. 1999 Young children's phonological awareness and nonword repetition as a function of vocabulary development. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 3– 19.Google Scholar
Metsala J. L., & Walley A. C. 1998 Spoken vocabulary growth and the segmental restructuring of lexical representations: Precursors to phonemic awareness and early reading ability. In J. L. Metsala & L. C. Ehri (Eds.), Word recognition in beginning literacy (pp. 89– 120). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Moe A. J., Hopkins K. J., & Rush R. T. 1982 The vocabulary of first grade children. Springfield, IL: Thomas.
Morrisette M. L. 1999 Lexical characteristics of sound change. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 13, 219– 238.Google Scholar
Morrisette M. L., & Gierut J. A. 2002 Lexical organization and phonological change in treatment. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 45, 143– 159.Google Scholar
Morrison C. M., Chappell T. D., & Ellis A. W. 1997 Age of acquisition norms for a large set of object names and their relation to adult estimates and other variables. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Experimental Psychology, 3, 528– 559.Google Scholar
Murphy H. A. 1957 The spontaneous speaking vocabulary of children in primary grades. Journal of Education, 140, 1– 105.Google Scholar
Newman R. S., Sawusch J. R., & Luce P. A. 1997 Lexical neighborhood effects in phonetic processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 23, 873– 889.Google Scholar
Nusbaum H. C., Pisoni D. B., & Davis C. K. 1984 Sizing up the Hoosier mental lexicon (Research on Spoken Language Processing Rep. No. 10, pp. 357–376). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, Speech Research Laboratory.
Pisoni D. B., Nusbaum H. C., Luce P. A., & Slowiaczek L. M. 1985 Speech perception, word recognition and the structure of the lexicon. Speech Communication, 4, 75– 95.Google Scholar
Rice M. L., Oetting J. B., Marquis J., Bode J., & Pae S. 1994 Frequency of input effects on word comprehension of children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 37, 106– 122.Google Scholar
Rice M. L., & Woodsmall L. 1988 Lessons from television: Children's word learning when viewing. Child Development, 59, 420– 429.Google Scholar
Snodgrass J. G., & Yuditsky T. 1996 Naming times for the Snodgrass and Vanderwart pictures. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 28, 516– 536.Google Scholar
Sommers M. S., & Lewis B. P. 1999 Who really lives next door: Creating false memories with phonological neighbors. Journal of Memory and Language, 40, 83– 108.Google Scholar
Stoel–Gammon C., & Cooper J. A. 1984 Patterns of early lexical and phonological development. Journal of Child Language, 11, 247– 271.Google Scholar
Storkel H. L. 2001 Learning new words: Phonotactic probability in language development. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 44, 1321– 1337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Storkel H. L. 2002 Restructuring of similarity neighbourhoods in the developing mental lexicon. Journal of Child Language, 29, 251– 274.Google Scholar
Storkel H. L. 2003 Learning new words II: Phonotactic probability in verb learning. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 46, 1312– 1323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Storkel H. L., & Gierut J. A. 2002 Lexical influences on interword variation. In B. Skrabela, S. Fish, & A. H. J. Do (Eds.), Proceedings of the 26th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (Vol. 2, pp. 665–676). Sommerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Storkel H. L., & Rogers M. A. 2000 The effect of probabilistic phonotactics on lexical acquisition. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 14, 407– 425.Google Scholar
Vitevitch M. S. 1997 The neighborhood characteristics of malapropisms. Language and Speech, 40, 211– 228.Google Scholar
Vitevitch M. S. 2002 The influence of phonological similarity neighborhoods on speech production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 28, 735– 747.Google Scholar
Vitevitch M. S., & Luce P. A. 1998 When words compete: Levels of processing in perception of spoken words. Psychological Science, 9, 325– 329.Google Scholar
Vitevitch M. S., & Luce P. A. 1999 Probabilistic phonotactics and neighborhood activation in spoken word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 40, 374– 408.Google Scholar
Vitevitch M. S., Luce P. A., Pisoni D. B., & Auer E. T. 1999 Phonotactics, neighborhood activation, and lexical access for spoken words. Brain and Language, 68, 306– 311.Google Scholar
Winters J. J., Winter L., & Burger A. L. 1978 Confidence in age-of-acquisition estimates and its relationship to children's labeling performance. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 361– 364.Google Scholar