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Levels of categorization and the development of referential descriptions
Author(s) -
Camaioniy Luigia,
Ercolani Anna Paola
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-835x.1992.tb00568.x
Subject(s) - categorization , psychology , attribution , noun , language development , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , task (project management) , linguistics , social psychology , philosophy , management , economics
In the present study an analysis is made of the type of noun descriptions used by 4‐ and 5‐year‐old children in a typical referential communication task as an indicator of the underlying categorization process and of the corresponding level of children's semantic development. On the basis of Rosch's theory of categorization the following hypotheses were proposed: (a) that children may form initial basic‐ level categories different from adult‐basic categories, which later undergo a process of conventionalization towards the adult norm; (b) that exemplar typicality may influence category attribution and the corresponding reference patterns. The subjects consisted of 94 Italian native speakers, 50 aged 4 years and 44 aged 5 years. The results support the first but not the second hypothesis and also allow us to explore how children proceed from a generic level of reference to more specific (subordinate) levels of reference, as well as how they correct previous attribution errors.