Backscheider A G, Gelman S A
Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
J Child Lang. 1995 Feb;22(1):107-27. doi: 10.1017/s030500090000965x.
Previous tasks have shown that preschool and early elementary schoolchildren typically have trouble learning and identifying homonyms (Peters & Zaidel, 1980; Mazzocco, 1989). It is possible that a one-to-one mapping assumption or a lack of metalinguistic skills makes homonym learning and identification particularly difficult. In three experiments we examined a total of 60 three-year-olds' ability to pick out homonym pairs, and the extent to which they realize that although homonyms share a common label, they represent two different categories. In Experiment 1 subjects were asked to identify homonym pairs. In Experiment 2, homonym pairs and non-homonym pairs were labelled, then children were asked whether the pairs had the same name, and whether they were the same kind of thing. In Experiment 3 children were shown one-half of each of several homonym and non-homonym pairs, then asked to identify a name match and a category match from a set of pictures. From these experiments we conclude that children have the metalinguistic skills necessary to identify homonym pairs; moreover, they realized that homonyms represent two different categories. Finally, if children have a one-to-one mapping assumption, it is not strong enough to prevent them from acquiring homonyms.
以往的研究表明，学龄前儿童和小学低年级学生通常在学习和识别同音异义词方面存在困难（彼得斯和扎伊德尔，1980年；马佐科，1989年）。一对一映射假设或元语言技能的缺乏可能会使同音异义词的学习和识别特别困难。在三个实验中，我们总共考察了60名三岁儿童挑选同音异义词对的能力，以及他们在多大程度上意识到，尽管同音异义词共享一个共同的标签，但它们代表两个不同的类别。在实验1中，要求受试者识别同音异义词对。在实验2中，给同音异义词对和非同音异义词对贴上标签，然后问孩子们这些对子是否有相同的名字，以及它们是否是同一类事物。在实验3中，向孩子们展示几组同音异义词对和非同音异义词对中的一半，然后要求他们从一组图片中识别出名字匹配和类别匹配。从这些实验中我们得出结论，孩子们具备识别同音异义词对所需的元语言技能；此外，他们意识到同音异义词代表两个不同的类别。最后，如果孩子们有一对一映射假设，那么这种假设的强度不足以阻止他们习得同音异义词。
