This study examined constraints on early phases of incidental learning ('fast mapping') of novel word comprehension in twenty 13- to 16-month-old children just beginning to acquire spoken words (10- to 30-word vocabularies). It asked: whether children this young can give evidence of comprehension, as indicated by object looking, after only four novel word exposures; whether frequency of input (4 versus 8 exposures) influenced learning; whether learning was better for novel words composed of sounds IN rather than OUT of the infant's repertoire ('phonological selectivity'); and whether infants also attended to the named object on probe trials partially similar in sounds to the novel word ('partial representation'). Planned comparisons revealed that children 13 to 16 months of age can 'fast map' novel words after only four word exposures and that representation of the word form may be partial. Further, the likelihood that a named object would be identified following a probe systematically diminished as the phonetic similarity to the target stimulus decreased. No effects of selectivity or input frequency were evident.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allen, G. & Norwood, J. (1988). Cues for intervocalic /t/ and /d/ in children and adults. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 84, 868-75.
2.
Baldwin, D. & Markman, E.M. (1989). Establishing word-object relations: a first step . Child Development, 60, 381-98.
3.
Barton, D. (1976). The role of perception in the acquisition of phonology . Unpublished PhD thesis, University of London.
4.
Bates, E., Beeghly, M., Bretherton, I., McNew, S., O'Connell, B., Rezmck, S., Shore, C., Snyder, L. & Volterra, V. (1986). Early Language Inventory (Preliminary version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventones ( San Diego, CA: Center for Research on Language).
5.
Bates, E., Bretherton, I. & Snyder, L. (1988). From First Words to Grammar: Individual Differences and Dissociable Mechanisms (New York: Cambridge University Press).
6.
Benedict, H. (1979). Early lexical development: comprehension and production . Journal of Child Language, 6, 183-200.
7.
Bertoncim, J., Bijeljac-Babic, R., Jusczyk, P., Kennedy, L. & Mehler, J. (1988). An investigation of young infants' perceptual representations of sounds. Journal of Experimental Psychology. General, 117, 21-33.
8.
Braine, M. (1976). Review of the acquisition of phonology (N. V Smith . Language, 52, 489-98.
9.
Brown, C. & Matthews, J. (1992). The elaboration of segmental structure in first language acquisition: evidence from the phonological discrimination of English phonemes. Paper presented at the Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, Massachusetts .
10.
Carey, S. & Bartlett, E. (1978). Acquiring a single new word. Papers and Reports in Child Language Development, 15, 17-29.
11.
Chapman, R.S. (1981). Mother-child interaction in the second year of life: its role in language development. In R. Schiefelbusch & D. Bricker (eds), Early Language: Acquisition and Intervention ( Baltimore: University Park Press), 201-50..
12.
Chapman, R.S., Kay-Raining Bird, E. & Schwartz, S.E. (1990). Fast mapping of words in event contexts by children with Down syndrome. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 55, 761-70.
13.
Charles-Luce, J. & Luce, P. (1990). Similarity neighborhoods of words in young children's lexicons. Journal of Child Language, 17, 205-15.
14.
Chin, S.B. & Dinnsen, D.A. (1990). Feature geometry in disordered phonologies. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 5, 329-37.
15.
Crais, E. (1992). Fast mapping: a new look at word learning. In R. S. Chapman (ed.), Processes in Language Acquisition (Toronto: Mosby Year Book).
16.
Davis, B.L. & MacNeilage, P.F. (1990). Acquisition of correct vowel production: a quantitative case study. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 33, 16-27.
17.
Dinnsen, D.A. (1989). Variation in developing and fully developed phonetic inventories. Paper presented at the Second Annual Conference on Phonological Development, Stanford University .
18.
Dinnsen, D.A., Chin, S.B., Elbert, M. & Powell, T. (1990) Some constraints on functionally disordered phonologies: phonetic inventories and phonotactics. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 33, 28-37.
19.
Dobrich, W. & Scarborough, H. (1992). Phonological characteristics of words young children say. Journal of Child Language, 19, 597-616.
20.
Dollaghan, C. (1985). Child meets word: 'fast mapping' in preschool children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 28, 449-54.
21.
Dollaghan, C. (1987). Fast mapping in normal and language-impaired children . Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 52, 218-22.
22.
—— (1994). Children's phonological neighbourhoods: half empty or half full? Journal of Child Language, 21, 257-71.
23.
Donahue, M. (1986). Phonological constraints on the emergence of two-word utterances. Journal of Child Language, 13, 209-18.
24.
Elliot, L., Busse, L.A. & Bailet, L.L. (1985). Identification and discrimination of consonant-vowel syllables by younger and older adults. Perception and Psychophysics , 37, 307-14.
25.
Elliot, L., Hammer, M., Scholl, M. & Wasowicz, J. (1989). Age differences in discrimination of simulated single-formant frequency transitions. Perception and Psychophysics , 46, 181-6.
26.
Ferguson, C. & Farwell, C. (1975). Words and sounds in early lexical acquisition . Language, 51 (2), 419-39.
27.
Fernald, A. (1989). Intonation and communicative intent in mothers' speech to infants: is the melody the message? Child Development , 60, 1497-510.
28.
Frankenburg, W. & Dodds, J. (1969). Denver Developmental Screening Test ( Denver, CO: University of Colorado Medical Center).
29.
French, A. (1989). The systematic acquisition of word forms by a child during the first-fifty-word stage. Journal of Child Language, 16, 69-90.
30.
Garnica, O.K. (1973). The development of speech perception. In T. Moore (ed.), Cognitive Development and the Acquisition of Language (New York: Academic Press).
31.
Goodsitt, J., Morse, P., Ver Hoeve, J. & Cowan, N. (1984). Infant speech recognition in multisyllabic contexts . Child Development, 55, 903-10.
32.
Harris, M., Barrett, M., Jones, D. & Brookes, S. (1988). Linguistic input and early word meaning. Journal of Child Language, 15, 77-94.
33.
Hart, B. (1991). Input frequency and children's first words. First Language, 11, 289-300.
34.
Heibeck, T. & Markman, E. (1987). Word learning in children: an examination of fast mapping. Child Development, 58, 1021-34.
35.
Jusczyk, P. (1989). Developing phonological categones from the speech signal. Paper presented at Trieste Cognitive Workshop on the Categorization of Biologically Salient Signals.
36.
—— (1993). From general to language-specific capacities: the WRAPSA Model of how speech perception develops. Journal of Phonetics, 21, 3-28.
37.
Jusczyk, P., Copan, H. & Thompson, E. (1978). Perception by 2-month-old infants of glide contrasts in multisyllabic utterances. Perception and Psychophysics , 24, 515-20.
38.
Jusczyk, P. & Derrah, C. (1987). Representation of speech sounds by young infants . Developmental Psychology, 23, 648-54.
39.
Jusczyk, P., Pisoni, D. & Mullennix, J. (1992). Some consequences of stimulus variability on speech processing by 2-month-old infants. Cognition, 43, 253-91.
40.
Jusczyk, P. & Thompson, E. (1978). Perception of a phonetic contrast in multisyllabic utterances by two-month-old infants. Perception and Psychophysics , 23, 105-9.
41.
Kamhi, A. (1987). Metalinguistic abilities in language-impaired children. Topics in Language Disorders, 7, 1-12.
42.
Kemler Nelson, D., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Jusczyk, P. & Cassidy, K. (1989). How prosodic cues in motherese might assist in language learning. Journal of Child Language, 16, 55-68.
43.
Kent, R.D. (1993). Infants and speech: seeking patterns. Journal of Phonetics, 21, 117-23.
44.
Kent, R. & Bauer, H. (1985). Vocalizations of one-year-olds. Journal of Child Language, 12,491-526.
45.
Kent, R. & Murray, A. (1982). Acoustic features of infant vocalic utterances at 3, 6, and 9 months. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 72, 353-65.
46.
Kuhl, P. (1987). Perception of speech and sound in early infancy . In The Handbook of Infant Speech Perception ( New York: Academic Press), 275-382.
47.
——— (1993). Early linguistic experience and phonetic perception: implications for theories of developmental speech perception. Journal of Phonetics, 21, 125-39.
48.
Kuhl, P. & Miller, J. (1982). Discrimination of auditory target dimensions in the presence or absence of variation in a second dimension by infants. Perception and Psychophysics, 31, 271-92.
49.
Leonard, L., Schwartz, R., Chapman, K., Rowan, L., Prelock, P., Terrell, B., Weiss, A. & Messick, C. (1982). Early lexical acquisition in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research , 25, 554-64.
50.
Leonard, L., Schwartz, R., Folger, M.K. & Wilcox, M.J. (1978). Some aspects of child phonology in imitative and spontaneous speech. Journal of Child Language, 5, 403-15.
51.
Lieberman, P. (1980). On the development of vowel production in young children. In G. Yeni-Komshian, J. Kavanagh, C. A. Ferguson (eds), Child Phonology, Vol. 1, Production (New York: Academic Press).
52.
Locke, J. (1983). Phonological Acquisition and Change ( New York. Academic Press).
53.
—— (1988). The sound shape of early lexical representations . In M. Smith & J. Locke (eds), The Emergent Lexicon. The Child's Development of a Linguistic Vocabulary (New York : Academic Press), 3-22.
54.
—— (1993). Learning to speak. Journal of Phonetics, 21, 141-46.
55.
Lucariello, J. (1987). Concept formation and its relation to word learning and use in the second year. Journal of Child Language, 14, 309-32.
56.
Macken, M. (1980). The child's lexical representation: the 'puzzle-puddle-pickle' evidence. Journal of Linguistics, 16, 1-19.
57.
Messick, C. (1984). Phonetic and contextual aspects of the transition to early words. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Purdue University , West Lafayette, IN.
58.
Nittrouer, S. (1992). Age-related differences in perceptual effects of formant transitions within syllables and across syllable boundanes. Journal of Phonetics, 20, 351-82.
59.
Nittrouer, S. & Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1987). The role of coarticulatory effects in the perception of fricatives by children and adults. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 30, 319-29.
60.
Oetting, J., Rice, M. & Swank, L. (1995). Quick incidental learning (QUIL) of words by school-age children with and without SLI. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 38, 434-45.
61.
Oviatt, S. (1980). The emerging ability to comprehend language: an experimental approach. Child Development, 51, 97-106.
62.
Poulin-Dubois, D., Graham, S.A. & Riddle, A.S. (1995). Salient object parts and infants' acquisition of novel object words. First Language, 15, 301-16.
63.
Rice, M. (1990). Preschoolers' QUIL: quick incidental learning of words. In G. Conti-Ramsden & C. Snow (eds), Children's Language, Vol. 7 (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum), 171-95.
64.
Rice, M., Buhr, J. & Nemeth, M. (1990). Fast mapping word-learning abilities of language-delayed preschoolers. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 55, 33-42.
65.
Rice, M., Buhr, J. & Oetting, J. (1992). Specific-language-impaired children's quick incidental learning of words: the effect of pause. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 35, 1040-8.
66.
Rice, M. & Woodsmall, L. (1988). Lessons from television: children's word learning when viewing. Child Development, 59, 420-9.
67.
Schwartz, R. (1988). Phonological factors in early lexical acquisition . In M. Smith & J. Locke (eds), The Emergent Lexicon. The Child's Development of a Linguistic Vocabulary (New York : Academic Press), 185-222.
68.
Schwartz, R. & Leonard, L. (1982). Do children pick and choose? An examination of phonological selection and avoidance in early lexical acquisition. Journal of Child Language, 9, 319-36.
69.
Schwartz, R., Leonard, L., Loeb, D. & Swanson, L. (1987). Attempted sounds are sometimes not: an expanded view of phonological selection and avoidance. Journal of Child Language, 14, 411-18.
70.
Schwartz, R. & Terrell, B. (1983). The role of input frequency in lexical acquisition . Journal of Child Language, 10, 57-64.
71.
Scullon, R. (1976). Conversation with a One Year Old: a Case Study of the Developmental Foundation of Language (Honolulu, Hawaii: University Press of Hawaii).
72.
Shibimoto, J.S. & Olmsted, D.L. (1978). Lexical and syllabic patterns in phonological acquisition. Journal of Child Language, 5, 417-46.
73.
Shriberg, L. & Kent, R. (1982). Clinical Phonetics (New York : John Wiley & Sons).
74.
Shvachkin, N.K. (1973). The development of phonemic speech perception in early childhood. In C. A. Ferguson & D. I. Slobin (eds), Studies of Child Development (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston; original work published 1948 ).
75.
Stager, C. & Werker, J. (1997). Infants listen for more phonetic detail in speech perception than in word-learning tasks. Nature, (388), 381-2.
76.
Stoel-Gammon, C. & Cooper, J. (1984). Patterns of early lexical and phonological development . Journal of Child Language, 11, 247-71.
77.
Vihman, M. (1992). Early syllables and the construction of phonology . In C. A. Ferguson, L. Menn, & C. Stoel-Gammon (eds), Phonological Development: Models, Research, Implications (Timonium, MD: York Press).
78.
—— (1993). Early phonological development. In N. Bernthal & J. Bankson (eds), Articulatory and Phonological Disorders, 3rd edn (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall), 63-110.
79.
—— (1993). Variable paths to early word production. Journal of Phonetics, 21, 61-82.
80.
Vihman, M., Ferguson, C. & Elbert, M. (1986). Phonological development from babbling to speech: common tendencies and individual differences. Applied Psycholinguistics , 7, 3-40.
81.
Walley, A.C. (1993). The role of vocabulary development in children's spoken word recognition and segmentation ability. Developmental Review, 13, 286-350.
82.
Walley, A.C., Smith, L.B. & Jusczyk, P.W. (1986). The role of phonemes and syllables in the perceived similarity of speech sounds for children. Memory and Cognition , 14,220-9.
83.
Werker, J. (1989). Becoming a native listener. American Scientist, 77, 54-9.
84.
—— (1993). The contribution of the relation between vocal production and perception to a developing phonological system. Journal of Phonetics, 21, 177-80.
85.
Werker, J. & Baldwin, D. (1991). Speech perception and lexical comprehension. Poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development , Seattle, WA.
86.
Woodward, A.L., Markman, E.M. & Fitzsimmons, C.M. (1994). Rapid word learning in 13- and 18-month-olds. Developmental Psychology, 30, 553-66.
