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Determining that a label is kind-referring: factors that influence children's and adults' novel word extensions*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

MEDHA TARE  and
SUSAN A. GELMAN
MEDHA TARE*
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
SUSAN A. GELMAN
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
*
Address for correspondence to: Medha Tare, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, PO Box 400400, Charlottesville, VA 22904. Email: mpt5v@virginia.edu.
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Abstract

The present studies examined factors that influence children's and adults' interpretation of a novel word. Four factors are hypothesized to emphasize that a label refers to a richly structured category (also known as a ‘kind’): generic language, internal property attributions, familiar kind labels and absence of a target photograph. In Study 1, for college students (N=125), internal property attributions resulted in more taxonomic and fewer shape responses. In Study 2, for four-year-olds (N=126), the presence of generic language and familiar kind labels resulted in more taxonomic choices. Further, the presence of familiar kind labels resulted in fewer shape choices. The results suggest that, when learning new words, children and adults are sensitive to factors that imply kind reference.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 37 , Issue 5 , November 2010 , pp. 1007 - 1026
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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Footnotes

[*]

This research was supported by NICHD grant HD36043 to Susan Gelman. We thank the children, parents and teachers at the University of Michigan Children's Centers and the Gretchen's House preschools. We are also grateful to Felicia Kleinberg, Erin Boyle, Dave Kush, Allison Wachter and Lisa Gilbertson for their research assistance. Portions of this research were presented at the October 2005 Cognitive Development Society conference in San Diego, CA and at the April 2007 Society for Research in Child Development conference in Boston, MA.

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