Sabbagh Mark A, Wdowiak Sylwia D, Ottaway Jennifer M
Psychology Department, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6.
J Child Lang. 2003 Nov;30(4):905-24. doi: 10.1017/s0305000903005828.
Thirty-six three- to four-year-old children were tested to assess whether hearing a word-referent link from an ignorant speaker affected children's abilities to subsequently link the same word with an alternative referent offered by another speaker. In the principal experimental conditions, children first heard either an ignorant or a knowledgeable speaker link a novel word with one of three toys. The first speaker's labelling episode was followed by a second in which a different speaker used the same novel label but for a different toy. There was also a Base-line condition which was the same as the experimental condition involving the ignorant speaker except that she did not associate the novel label with a referent. When tested for comprehension of the novel label, children selected the FIRST speaker's toy at high levels when the first speaker was knowledgeable, but selected the SECOND speaker's toy when the first speaker was ignorant. These findings suggest that children's experience with the ignorant speaker did not affect their abilities to learn a subsequently presented alternative word-referent link. These findings are discussed in terms of understanding the mechanisms by which children adapt their word-learning in line with speakers' knowledge states.
三十六名三到四岁的儿童接受了测试，以评估从一个无知的说话者那里听到一个词语与所指对象的联系，是否会影响儿童随后将同一个词语与另一个说话者提供的替代所指对象建立联系的能力。在主要实验条件下，儿童首先听到一个无知的或知识渊博的说话者将一个新词语与三个玩具中的一个联系起来。第一个说话者的标记环节之后是第二个环节，另一个不同的说话者使用相同的新标签，但指的是不同的玩具。还有一个基线条件，它与涉及无知说话者的实验条件相同，只是她没有将新标签与一个所指对象联系起来。当测试对新标签的理解时，当第一个说话者知识渊博时，儿童在很大程度上选择第一个说话者的玩具，但当第一个说话者无知时，儿童选择第二个说话者的玩具。这些发现表明，儿童与无知说话者的经历并没有影响他们学习随后呈现的替代词语与所指对象联系的能力。我们从理解儿童如何根据说话者的知识状态调整其词汇学习的机制方面来讨论这些发现。
