Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-g8tfn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T12:05:24.775Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The development of noun definitions: a metalinguistic analysis*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Betty McGhee-Bidlack
Betty McGhee-Bidlack*
Affiliation:
Grand Valley State University, Michigan
*
Department of Psychology, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI 49401, USA.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Defining is a metalinguistic skill. This study charts the development of the ability to define. A total of 120 participants (40 at each of the ages of 10, 14 and 18 years) defined eight concrete and eight abstract nouns. Each definition was coded to identify the types of responses present in it. Results indicate that there are significant differences in the way concrete and abstract nouns are defined. All three age-groups defined concrete nouns mainly by class and characteristic responses. But it was not until age 18 that abstract nouns were defined by class and characteristic responses. The development of abstract noun definitions follows the development of concrete noun definitions. The ability to define is dependent upon knowledge of the meaning of the word but it is also dependent upon implicit or explicit knowledge of the definitional form. The ability to define abstract nouns is a late developing metalinguistic skill.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , June 1991 , pp. 417 - 434
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

*

This paper is based on my doctoral dissertation conducted at the University of Chicago. I want to thank the members of my dissertation committee: George Hillocks, Jr., Susan Goldin-Meadow and Larry Hedges.

References

REFERENCES

Al-Issa, I. (1969). The development of word definition in children. Journal of Genetic Psychology 114, 25–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anglin, J. M. (1977). Word, object, and conceptual development. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Binet, A. & Simon, T. (1916). The development of intelligence in children (translated by Kite, E. S.). Baltimore: William & Wilkens.Google Scholar
Burns, D. G. (1960). A note on the responses made by secondary school children in their definitions of words. The British Journal of Educational Psychology 30, 30–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cazden, C. B. (1976). Play with language and metalinguistic awareness: one dimension of language experience. In Bruner, J. S., Jolly, A. & Sylva, D. (eds), Play. New York: Penguin.Google Scholar
Clark, E. V. (1978). Awareness of language: some evidence from what children say and do. In Sinclair, A., Jarvella, R. J. & Levelt, W. J. M. (eds), The child's conception of language. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Clark, E. V. (1983). Meanings and concepts. In Flavell, J. H. & Markham, E. M. (eds), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Cognitive development. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Eson, M. E. & Walmsley, S. A. (1980). Promoting cognitive and psycholinguistic development. In Toward adolescence: the middle school years. 79th Yearbook of the National Society for the study of education. Part 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Feifel, H. & Lorge, I. (1950). Qualitative differences in the vocabulary responses of children. Journal of Educational Psychology 41, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flavell, J. H. (1970). Concept development. In Mussen, P. H. (ed.), Carmichael's manual of child psychology: Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Franklin, M. B. (1979). Metalinguistic functioning in development. In Smith, N. R. & Franklin, M. B. (eds), Symbolic functioning in childhood. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Gardner, H. & Lohman, W. (1975). Children's sensitivity to literary styles. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 21, 113–26.Google 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. E. P. & Gelman, R. (1976). Language in the two-year-old. Cognition 4, 189–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hakes, D. T. (1980). The development of metalinguistic abilities in children. In collaboration with J. S. Evans & W. Tunmer. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holsti, O. R. (1969). Content analysis for the social sciences and humanities. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.Google Scholar
Huttenlocher, Janellen. (1974). The origins of language comprehension. In Solso, R. L. (ed.), Theories in cognitive psychology: the Loyola symposium. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, E. A. (1907). A vocabulary test. Popular Science Monthly 70, 157–64.Google Scholar
Klausmeier, H. J., Ghatala, E. S. & Frayer, D. A. (1974). Conceptual learning and development: a cognitive view. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kruglov, L. P. (1953). Qualitative differences in the vocabulary choices of children as revealed in a multiple-choice test. Journal of Educational Psychology 44, 229–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Litowitz, B. (1977). Learning to make definitions. Journal of Child Language 4, 289–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, K. (1978). Semantic development and the development of semantic memory. In Nelson, K. E. (ed.), Children's language: Vol. 1. New York: Gardner.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1928). Judgment and reasoning in the child (translated by Warden, M.). New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co.Google Scholar
Russell, D. H. & Saadeh, I. Q. (1962). Qualitative levels in children's vocabularies. Journal of Educational Psychology 53, 170–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Storck, P. & Looft, W. (1973). Qualitative analysis of vocabulary responses from persons aged 6–66 plus. Journal of Educational Psychology 65, 192–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swartz, K. & Hall, A. E. (1972). Development of relational concepts and word definition in children five through eleven. Child Development 43, 239–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorndike, E. L. (1932). A teacher's word book of the twenty thousand words found frequently and widely in general reading for children and young people. New York: Columbia University, Teachers' College.Google Scholar
Tunmer, W. E. & Herriman, M. L. (1984). The development of metalinguistic awareness: a conceptual overview. In Tunmer, W. E., Pratt, C. & Herriman, M. L. (eds), Metalinguistic awareness in children. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Kleeck, A. (1982). The emergence of linguistic awareness: a cognitive framework. Merill-Palmer Quarterly 28, 237–65.Google Scholar
Watson, R. (1982). Definitions: the conventionalization of word meaning. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual General Meeting, New York.Google Scholar
Wehren, A., De Lisi, R. & Arnold, M. (1981). The development of noun definition. Journal of Child Language 8, 165–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolman, R. N. & Barker, E. N. (1965). A developmental study of word definitions. Journal of Genetic Psychology 107, 159–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed