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Beyond the basics: preschool children label objects flexibly at multiple hierarchical levels*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Sandra R. Waxman  and
Thomas Hatch
Sandra R. Waxman*
Affiliation:
Harvard University
Thomas Hatch
Affiliation:
Harvard University
*
Department of Psychology, William James Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
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Abstract

Although preschoolers typically accept the basic level label for an object (e.g. dog) and tend to resist all others (e.g. collie, animal), this tendency is not inviolable. Under certain circumstances, children accept more than one label per object. In this experiment, with 20 three- and 20 four-year-old children, we extended this body of research in three ways. We examined (1) children's production of multiple, hierarchically related labels; (2) the pragmatic consequences of the inherent asymmetry of inclusion relations; and (3) the influence of morphology (modifier + noun constructions vs. simple lexemes) at the subordinate level. Children labelled objects most frequently at the basic level, but also readily produced many non-basic level terms. Children, like adults, may prefer to label objects at the basic level, but they exhibit no general prohibition against also labelling at other, non-basic levels. Their performance challenges the notion that the ability to label objects flexibly at multiple levels is beyond the young child's capacity.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , February 1992 , pp. 153 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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Footnotes

*

This research was supported by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and a Spencer Fellowship to S. Waxman. We are grateful to the teachers, parents and especially the children at the Cambridge Ellis School. We also thank Lauren Heim for assistance with data collection and analysis.

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