Mutual exclusivity : the role of the speaker's referential intent

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dc.contributor.advisorEchols, Catharine H.
dc.creatorKrogh-Jespersen, Shelia Ann
dc.date.accessioned2017-06-21T19:32:54Z
dc.date.available2017-06-21T19:32:54Z
dc.date.issued2006-08
dc.description.abstractPrevious research has suggested that young children are equipped with mechanisms that aid in the acquisition of language. One of these mechanisms is the Mutual Exclusivity Constraint, which is an expectation that every object has only one label that will apply to it. This study investigates the ways in which the context of a labeling event, such as evidence of referential intent, may influence children's willingness to apply a second label to an object for which they already have a label. 24-month-old children interacted with an adult speaker who either accurately or inaccurately labeled objects known to be familiar to the child. Children's adherence to Mutual Exclusivity was tested when the speaker attempted to teach novel labels ("gep" and "danu") for familiar objects. The results indicate that by the age of 24 months, children attend to the referential cues provided by the speaker. When the speaker labels accurately, children are more willing to override the Mutual Exclusivity Constraint to learn a second label for an object that is familiar to them.en_US
dc.description.departmentPsychologyen_US
dc.format.mediumelectronicen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.15781/T2TM7264T
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2152/47304
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.relation.ispartofUT Electronic Theses and Dissertationsen_US
dc.rightsCopyright © is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works.en_US
dc.rights.restrictionRestricteden_US
dc.subjectMutual Exclusivity Constrainten_US
dc.subjectChildrenen_US
dc.subjectAcquisition of languageen_US
dc.titleMutual exclusivity : the role of the speaker's referential intenten_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.genreThesisen_US
thesis.degree.departmentPsychologyen_US
thesis.degree.disciplinePsychologyen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Texas at Austinen_US
thesis.degree.levelMastersen_US
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen_US

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