Iconicity in the speech of children and adults

Developmental Science
Lynn K PerryGary Lupyan

Abstract

Iconicity - the correspondence between form and meaning - may help young children learn to use new words. Early-learned words are higher in iconicity than later learned words. However, it remains unclear what role iconicity may play in actual language use. Here, we ask whether iconicity relates not just to the age at which words are acquired, but also to how frequently children and adults use the words in their speech. If iconicity serves to bootstrap word learning, then we would expect that children should say highly iconic words more frequently than less iconic words, especially early in development. We would also expect adults to use iconic words more often when speaking to children than to other adults. We examined the relationship between frequency and iconicity for approximately 2000 English words. Replicating previous findings, we found that more iconic words are learned earlier. Moreover, we found that more iconic words tend to be used more by younger children, and adults use more iconic words when speaking to children than to other adults. Together, our results show that young children not only learn words rated high in iconicity earlier than words low in iconicity, but they also produce these words more frequently in ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 11, 2019·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Beau SieversThalia Wheatley
Oct 18, 2019·Cognitive Science·Charles P DavisGary Lupyan
Jun 20, 2018·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Gary Lupyan, Bodo Winter
Mar 23, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Stefan Hartmann, Michael Pleyer
Apr 21, 2021·Cognitive Science·Padraic Monaghan, Seán G Roberts
Jun 29, 2021·Journal of Child Language·David M SidhuPenny M Pexman
Nov 11, 2021·Cognitive Science·Shiri Lev-AriMadina Zaynudinova
Nov 16, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Aleksandra ĆwiekBodo Winter
Dec 18, 2021·Psychonomic Bulletin & Review·David A Haslett, Zhenguang G Cai

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