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What's in a Name When It Isn't a Word? 17‐Month‐Olds' Mapping of Nonverbal Symbols to Object Categories
Author(s) -
Namy Laura L.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
infancy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.361
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1532-7078
pISSN - 1525-0008
DOI - 10.1207/s15327078in0201_5
Subject(s) - psychology , object (grammar) , nonverbal communication , gesture , symbol (formal) , linguistics , communication , task (project management) , word (group theory) , cognitive psychology , philosophy , management , economics
Abstract Infants begin acquiring object labels as early as 12 months of age. Recent research has indicated that the ability to acquire object names extends beyond verbal labels to other symbolic forms, such as gestures. This experiment examines the latitude of infants' early naming abilities. We tested 17‐month‐olds' ability to map gestures, nonverbal sounds, and pictograms to object categories using a forced‐choice triad task. Results indicated that infants accept a wide range of symbolic forms as object names when they are embedded in familiar referential naming routines. These data suggest that infants may initially have no priority for words over other symbolic forms as object names, although the relative status of words appears to change with development. The implications of these findings for the development of criteria for determining whether a symbol constitutes an object name early in development are considered.