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Your child, the sophisticated language learner

ScienceDaily
Summary
Nutrition label

78% Informative

MIT study shows that a grasp of grammar helps even very young children figure out when they must acquire new words.

The new insight stands in contrast to a prior explanation for how children build vocabulary: that they rely on the concept of "mutual exclusivity," meaning they treat each new word as corresponding to a new object or category.

The researchers' experiments manipulated focus in three experiments with a total of 106 children.

Children thought a new word meant the previously named object 71 percent of the time.

But when hearing the new word spoken with focus, they thought it must refer to a new object.

The researchers believe the full set of experiments sheds new light on the issue.

If the new hypothesis is correct, the researchers may have developed a more robust explanation about how children apply new words.

VR Score

90

Informative language

97

Neutral language

45

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

52

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

long-living

External references

no external sources

Source diversity

no sources

Affiliate links

no affiliate links