Abstract

ARIAS, Nicolás  and  MORALES, Barbarita. Overview of the studies about word learning in the speech of children from two months to four years of age. Folios [online]. 2007, n.26, pp.49-63. ISSN 0123-4870.

This is a review of empirical studies on word learning in children who are beginning to speak. The studies are distributed in three phases. The first phase, in the 1970’s, researchers studied the meaning in different kinds of words. In the second phase (1980’s) the relationship between new words, verbal expressions and the development of distinct recognitions of language were studied. By the third phase (1990s to date) there is a boom in new conceptual perspectives and experimental devices in this field of study. It is important to review in previous research some areas that were looked over such as: the use of words in sentences, more accurate definitions for grammatical categories used to classify words, and the relationship between new word learning and others aspects of a child’s language development.

Keywords : Word learning; semantic bootstrapping; syntactic bootstrapping; nouns; verbs.

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