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What does it take to learn a word?
Author(s) -
Samuelson Larissa K.,
McMurray Bob
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
wiley interdisciplinary reviews: cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.526
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1939-5086
pISSN - 1939-5078
DOI - 10.1002/wcs.1421
Subject(s) - ambiguity , vocabulary , language acquisition , computer science , word (group theory) , field (mathematics) , vocabulary development , linguistics , second language acquisition , domain (mathematical analysis) , contrast (vision) , word learning , language development , cognitive science , natural language processing , artificial intelligence , psychology , cognitive psychology , mathematics , philosophy , mathematical analysis , pure mathematics , programming language
Vocabulary learning is deceptively hard, but toddlers often make it look easy. Prior theories proposed that children's rapid acquisition of words is based on language‐specific knowledge and constraints. In contrast, more recent work converges on the view that word learning proceeds via domain‐general processes that are tuned to richly structured—not impoverished—input. We argue that new theoretical insights, coupled with methodological tools, have pushed the field toward an appreciation of simple, content‐free processes working together as a system to support the acquisition of words. We illustrate this by considering three central phenomena of early language development: referential ambiguity, fast‐mapping, and the vocabulary spurt. WIREs Cogn Sci 2017, 8:e1421. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1421 This article is categorized under: Linguistics > Language Acquisition Psychology > Development and Aging