Using Verb Extension to Gauge Children’s Verb Meaning Construals: The Case of Chinese
Verb extension is a crucial gauge of the acquisition of verb meaning. In English, studies suggest that young children show conservative extension. An important test of whether an early conservative extension is a general phenomenon or a function of the input language is made possible by Chinese, a l...
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doaj-d7b1a3c951534aa79c206285ce4e0bf92021-02-04T04:17:41ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-02-011110.3389/fpsyg.2020.572198572198Using Verb Extension to Gauge Children’s Verb Meaning Construals: The Case of ChineseWeiyi Ma0Roberta Michnick Golinkoff1Roberta Michnick Golinkoff2Roberta Michnick Golinkoff3Lulu Song4Kathy Hirsh-Pasek5School of Human Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, United StatesSchool of Education, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United StatesDepartment of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United StatesDepartment of Early Childhood Education and Art Education, School of Education, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, New York, NY, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesVerb extension is a crucial gauge of the acquisition of verb meaning. In English, studies suggest that young children show conservative extension. An important test of whether an early conservative extension is a general phenomenon or a function of the input language is made possible by Chinese, a language in which verbs are more frequent and acquired earlier. This study tested whether 3-year-old Chinese children extended a group of familiar verbs that specify various ways to carry objects. Shown videos that portrayed typical, mid-typical, or atypical carrying actions (as verified by Chinese adults), children were asked to judge whether they were examples of specific Chinese carry verbs. Children’s verb extensions were mostly limited to typical exemplars, suggesting that an early conservative extension may be universal. Furthermore, extension breadth was related to the onset of verb production: verbs acquired earlier elicited more extension judgments than those acquired later.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.572198/fullverb extensionage of acquisitiontypicalityverbChinese |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Weiyi Ma Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Lulu Song Kathy Hirsh-Pasek |
spellingShingle |
Weiyi Ma Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Lulu Song Kathy Hirsh-Pasek Using Verb Extension to Gauge Children’s Verb Meaning Construals: The Case of Chinese Frontiers in Psychology verb extension age of acquisition typicality verb Chinese |
author_facet |
Weiyi Ma Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Lulu Song Kathy Hirsh-Pasek |
author_sort |
Weiyi Ma |
title |
Using Verb Extension to Gauge Children’s Verb Meaning Construals: The Case of Chinese |
title_short |
Using Verb Extension to Gauge Children’s Verb Meaning Construals: The Case of Chinese |
title_full |
Using Verb Extension to Gauge Children’s Verb Meaning Construals: The Case of Chinese |
title_fullStr |
Using Verb Extension to Gauge Children’s Verb Meaning Construals: The Case of Chinese |
title_full_unstemmed |
Using Verb Extension to Gauge Children’s Verb Meaning Construals: The Case of Chinese |
title_sort |
using verb extension to gauge children’s verb meaning construals: the case of chinese |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Psychology |
issn |
1664-1078 |
publishDate |
2021-02-01 |
description |
Verb extension is a crucial gauge of the acquisition of verb meaning. In English, studies suggest that young children show conservative extension. An important test of whether an early conservative extension is a general phenomenon or a function of the input language is made possible by Chinese, a language in which verbs are more frequent and acquired earlier. This study tested whether 3-year-old Chinese children extended a group of familiar verbs that specify various ways to carry objects. Shown videos that portrayed typical, mid-typical, or atypical carrying actions (as verified by Chinese adults), children were asked to judge whether they were examples of specific Chinese carry verbs. Children’s verb extensions were mostly limited to typical exemplars, suggesting that an early conservative extension may be universal. Furthermore, extension breadth was related to the onset of verb production: verbs acquired earlier elicited more extension judgments than those acquired later. |
topic |
verb extension age of acquisition typicality verb Chinese |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.572198/full |
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