Flexibility in Bilingual Infants' Word Learning

The present experiments tested bilingual infants' developmental narrowing for the interpretation of sounds that form words. These studies addressed how language specialization proceeds when the environment provides varied and divergent input. Experiment 1 (N = 32) demonstrated that bilingual 14‐ and 19‐month‐olds learned a pair of object labels consisting of the same syllable produced with distinct pitch contours (rising and falling). Infants' native languages did not use pitch contour to differentiate words. In Experiment 2 (N = 16), 22‐month‐old bilinguals failed to learn the labels. These results conflict with the developmental trajectory of monolinguals, who fail to learn pitch contour contrasts as labels at 17–19 months (Hay, Graf Estes, Wang, & Saffran, 2015). Bilingual infants exhibited a prolonged period of flexibility in their interpretation of potential word forms.     

儿童早期词汇学习的新途径:达成共同注意

语义的理解是儿童正确使用语言和理解语言的基础。根据维果斯基的理论，3岁以前的幼儿在与周围环境相处过程中，产生与他人进行言语交流的需要，他们会自发地学习语言。这一时期，尤其是刚开始学习语言的儿童如何发展自己的语言能力呢？Baldwin等人对幼儿词汇学习进行了大量的研究，提出了达成共同注意这一新途径，而且幼儿是通过检测他人的意图，主动地达成这一目的的。     

The Role of Discourse Novelty in Early Word Learning

2 studies of word learning are reported. In Study 1, 24-month-old children and 2 adults played with 3 nameless objects. These objects were placed in a clear box along with a novel nameless object. The adults then displayed excitement about the contents of the box and modeled a new word. Comparison with a control condition indicated significant learning of the new word for the novel object. Study 2 followed the same procedure with one difference: the children played with the novel object while the adults were absent. Thus, at the time of the language model the target object was novel only to the adults, not to the children. Again subjects displayed significant learning of the new word. This last finding suggests that 24-month-old children understand that adults use language for things that are novel to the discourse context and that this novelty is determined from the speaker's point of view.     

Online Lexical Competition During Spoken Word Recognition and Word Learning in Children and Adults

Lexical competition that occurs as speech unfolds is a hallmark of adult oral language comprehension crucial to rapid incremental speech processing. This study used pause detection to examine whether lexical competition operates similarly at 7–8 years and tested variables that influence “online” lexical activity in adults. Children (n = 20) and adults (n = 17) were slower to detect pauses in familiar words with later uniqueness points. Faster latencies were obtained for words with late uniqueness points in constraining compared with neutral sentences; no such effect was observed for early unique words. Following exposure to novel competitors (“biscal”), children (n = 18) and adults (n = 18) showed competition for existing words with early uniqueness points (“biscuit”) after 24 hr. Thus, online lexical competition effects are remarkably similar across development.     

Object Properties and Knowledge in Early Lexical Learning

The ease with which young children learn object nouns suggests that they possess strategies to identify properties critical to lexical category membership. In previous work, young children used a same-shape criterion to extend new count nouns. The present research tested the generality of this shape bias. 2- and 3-year-olds were asked either to extend a novel count noun to new instances, or to choose unnamed objects to go together. The objects varied in shape, size, and texture. For half of the subjects, the objects had eyes--a property strongly associated with certain material kinds. If young children know this association, they should attend to texture as well as shape in classifying objects with eyes. With named objects only, both 2- and 3-year-old children classified eyeless objects by shape and objects with eyes by both shape and texture. The results suggest that very young children possess considerable knowledge about conditional relations between kinds of perceptual properties. Knowledge of such conditional relations may aid children in forming new categories and thus in discovering new word meanings.     

Learning the Language of Evolution: Lexical Ambiguity and Word Meaning in Student Explanations

Our study investigates the challenges introduced by students’ use of lexically ambiguous language in evolutionary explanations. Specifically, we examined students’ meaning of five key terms incorporated into their written evolutionary explanations: pressure, select, adapt, need, and must. We utilized a new technological tool known as the Assessment Cascade System (ACS) to investigate the frequency with which biology majors spontaneously used lexically ambiguous language in evolutionary explanations, as well as their definitions and explanations of what they meant when they used such terms. Three categories of language were identified and examined in this study: terms with Dual Ambiguity, Incompatible Ambiguity, and Unintended Ambiguity. In the sample of 1282 initial evolutionary explanations, 81 % of students spontaneously incorporated lexically ambiguous language at least once. Furthermore, the majority of these initial responses were judged to be inaccurate from a scientific point of view. While not significantly related to gender, age, or reading/writing ability, students’ use of contextually appropriate evolutionary language (pressure and adapt) was significantly associated with academic performance in biology. Comparisons of initial responses to follow-up responses demonstrated that the majority of student explanations were not reinterpreted after consideration of the follow-up response; nevertheless, a sizeable minority was interpreted differently. Most cases of interpretation change were a consequence of resolving initially ambiguous responses, rather than a change of accuracy, resulting in an increased understanding of students’ evolutionary explanations. We discuss a series of implications of lexical ambiguity for evolution education.     

英汉词汇理据对比在英语教学中的应用

词汇中大量词语的意义和形式之间存在着不同程度的关联。汉语作为强理据性语言,词义透明度大,规律性强;而英语任意性强,其理据性质与汉语差异很大。受汉语思维定式的影响,中国学生会感到英语词汇繁杂无序,难于掌握。本文从语音理据、形态理据、语义理据三个方面对比了英汉理据的主要特征,并探讨了在英语教学中的应用,力图帮助学生从规律的高度,系统有效地学习英语词汇。     

语气词“唦”及其类型学意义

安陆方言里,语气词“唦”有两个读音：唦1[■44]和唦[■51],它们分别用在一定的句子中,表达不同的语气意义。语气词“唦”在全国分布的范围非常广,但还没有进入北京话,它是南方方言里比较典型的一个语气词。其类型学意义在于“唦”在不同的方言里声母和韵母的区别,反映了汉字在记录语气词方面具有语音上的模糊性特点。“唦”在不同的方言里用不同的汉字来记录,说明汉语语气词词形写法的不固定性。同一语气词可以表达不同的语气,地域差异较大。     

语气词"唦"及其类型学意义

安陆方言里,语气词"唦"有两个读音唦1[(S)ε44]和唦2[(S)ε51],它们分别用在一定的句子中,表达不同的语气意义.语气词"唦"在全国分布的范围非常广,但还没有进入北京话,它是南方方言里比较典型的一个语气词.其类型学意义在于"唦"在不同的方言里声母和韵母的区别,反映了汉字在记录语气词方面具有语音上的模糊性特点."唦"在不同的方言里用不同的汉字来记录,说明汉语语气词词形写法的不固定性.同一语气词可以表达不同的语气,地域差异较大.     

Syllable,Phoneme, and Tone: Psycholinguistic Units in Early Chinese and English Word Recognition

Tasks of word reading in Chinese and English; nonverbal IQ; speeded naming; and units of syllable onset (a phoneme measure), syllable, and tone detection awareness were administered to 211 Hong Kong Chinese children ages 4 and 5. In separate regression equations, syllable awareness was equally associated with Chinese and English word recognition. In contrast, syllable onset awareness was uniquely associated with English reading only, whereas tone detection was uniquely associated with Chinese reading only. Results underscore both the universality of first-language phonological transfer to second-language reading and the importance of different psycholinguistic units (Ziegler & Goswami, 2005 Ziegler, J. C. and Goswami, U. 2005. Reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia, and skilled reading across languages: A psycholinguistic grain size theory.. Psychological Bulletin, 131(1): 3–29. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) for understanding reading acquisition: Tone units are integral to Chinese character recognition, whereas phonemes are more strongly associated with English word recognition, even within the same children.     

Linguistic and Cultural Variation in Early Color Word Learning

When and how do infants learn color words? It is generally supposed that color words are learned late and with a great deal of difficulty. By examining infant language surveys in British English and 11 other languages, this study shows that color word learning occurs earlier than has been previously suggested and that the order of acquisition of color words is similar in related languages. This study also demonstrates that frequency and syllabic complexity can be used to predict variability in infant color word learning across languages. In light of recent evidence indicating that color categories have universal biological foundations, these findings suggest that infants’ experience and linguistic exposure drive their shift to culturally and linguistically mediated adult-like understandings of color words.     

Early Conversations and Word Learning: Contributions from Child and Adult

Temporal and topic contingencies between child and mother speech are reported at 2 achievements in language development in the second year. Measured against their respective baseline rates of speech, children were most likely to talk before mother speech and mothers most likely to talk after child speech. This pattern, evident at both language achievements, increased in amplitude with development. These early conversations were generated by the children; neither their interactions nor word learning depended on adult-scaffolded formats. Only about one-third of all child speech occurred in response to something mothers said; only half of all child speech received a topic-related response. When mothers responded, they most often simply acknowledged, repeated, or clarified what the child said. The results supported the intentionality model for language development, in which the child's role is primary: Children learn words for expression and interpretation in order to share contents of mind, bringing words to their conversations that they've already learned in other contexts.     

How Children Learn From Others: An Analysis of Selective Word Learning

One way children are remarkable learners is that they learn from others. Critically, children are selective when assessing from whom to learn, particularly in the domain of word learning. We conducted an analysis of children’s selective word learning, reviewing 63 papers on 6,525 participants. Children’s ability to engage in selective word learning appeared to be present in the youngest samples surveyed. Their more metacognitive understanding that epistemic competence indicates reliability or that others are good sources of knowledge has more of a developmental trajectory. We also found that various methodological factors used to assess children influence performance. We conclude with a synthesis of theoretical accounts of how children learn from others.     

STAD合作学习方法对大学英语词汇学习的影响

本研究的目的主要是了解STAD型合作学习对大学英语词汇学习的影响。实验主要考察了在STAD型合作学习模式下,受试词汇学习的效果。研究结果表明：STAD型合作学习模式有利于词汇的学习。     

STAD合作学习方法对大学英语词汇学习的影响

本研究的目的主要是了解STAD型合作学习对大学英语词汇学习的影响。实验主要考察了在STAD型合作学习模式下,受试词汇学习的效果。研究结果表明:STAD型合作学习模式有利于词汇的学习。     

从词汇扩散看六安话入声字的演变

入声演变的过程和原因十分复杂,至今没有比较统一的理论和观点。我们利用词汇扩散理论来考察六安话入声的消变,展示江淮官话入声演变的生动事实,诠释北方话"入派三声"的历时过程。     

意识提升——英语词汇自主学习的策略

意识提升法促使学习者成为积极的观察者和探索者。运用意识提升法学习英语词汇的策略,是实现学习者自主学习英语词汇的重要途径,从而有助于促进学习者对英语词汇的习得。     

从民间音调的改编与创作看中国早期钢琴作品

本文从民间音调改编与创作的早期中国钢琴作品的分析与研究中,揭示了民间音乐对中国钢琴曲创作所产生的影响。