Work

Children's Early Understanding of Mass-Count Syntax: Individuation, Lexical Content, and the Number Asymmetry Hypothesis

Year: 2006

Type: article

Abstract: How does mass-count syntax affect word meaning? Many theorists have proposed that count nouns denote individuals, whereas mass nouns do not (Bloom, 1999; Gordon, 1985; Link, 1983), a proposal that is supported by prototypical examples of each (table, water). However, studies of quantity judgments in 4-year-olds and adults demonstrate that some mass nouns (furniture) do denote individuals (Barner & Snedeker, 2005). This is problematic for bootstrapping theories that posit one-to-one syntax-semantics mappings (individual " count; nonindividual " mass; Bloom, 1999), unless mass nouns that denote individuals are late-learned exceptions to mappings. This article investigates this possibility in 3-year-olds and adults using 2 methods: word extension and quantity judgment. Both methods indicate that novel mass nouns can denote individuals in both age groups, and thus fail to support simplified syntax-semantics mappings. Also, differences between word extension and quantity judgment raise the possibility that the tasks measure different underlying knowledge.

Source: Language Learning and Development

DOI: 10.1207/s15473341lld0203_2

Authors: David Barner, Jesse Snedeker

Institution: Harvard University

Language: English

Topic: Language Development and Disorders

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Science Foundation, Harvard University

Award: ITR: Bayesian Learning at the Syntax-Semantics Interface