Keren-Portnoy, Tamar orcid.org/0000-0002-7258-2404, Vihman, Marilyn orcid.org/0000-0001-8912-4840 and Lindop Fisher, Robin J. (2019) Do infants learn from isolated words?:An ecological study. Language Learning and Development. pp. 47-63. ISSN 1547-3341
Abstract
Researchers disagree as to the importance for infant language learning of isolated words, which occur relatively rarely in input speech. Brent and Siskind (2001) showed that the first words infants produce are words their mothers used most frequently in isolation. Here we investigate the long-term effects of presentation mode on recognition memory for word forms. In two experiments we assess whether 12-month-old infants remember novel words presented in the home, over a three-week period, (i) in isolation or (ii) sentence-finally. When tested with word lists infants recognise words that had been presented in isolation, but not those that had been presented sentence-finally. They fail to recognise the trained words when tested with a segmentation task, regardless of presentation mode during the training. Our results indicate that the relatively small proportion of words produced in isolation in the input likely play a disproportionate role in the early period of language learning.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details |
Keywords: | infant word learning,isolated words |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > Language and Linguistic Science (York) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number THE BRITISH ACADEMY UNSPECIFIED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (ESRC) ES/J004952/1 |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 17 Jul 2018 13:10 |
Last Modified: | 02 Apr 2025 23:13 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2018.1503542 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/15475441.2018.1503542 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:133400 |
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