Word Learning Ability of 9-Month-Old Ethnic Chinese Infants

Abstract

The conventional nature of language refers to the fact that words have meaning because they are shared among speakers of the same linguistic community. Evidence from previous research suggests that infants who are around 9-13 months of age have a basic understanding of the conventional nature of language. However, it remains unknown whether younger infants understand that words have consistent labels and these labels should be generalized across different people. To answer this question, the present study examined whether 9-month-old Chinese infants who are habituated to the event in which a speaker provides a label for a novel object, would expect a second speaker to apply the same label to the same objects. Findings indicate that 9-month-olds expect different speakers to use the same label to refer to the same objects. Thus, by 9 months of age, infants have some understanding that an object label should be remain consistent on different occasions across people. The mechanism underlying the acquisition of conventional knowledge and implications for word learning and culture are discussed.