-JK:---- >> What theories are there re when babies start learning to talk? I
wonder to
what extent it is to do with having achieved a minimal, consistent
sensory
model of the world, or with possibly having achieved a certain vocal
control.
You might want to check out "The Symbolic Species" by Terrence Deacon.
Thanks. I have to look at that. I suspect though something like this may be
more to point:
http://www.jstor.org/view/0037976x/sp040008/04x0040n/0
It's interesting stuff - & interesting from AGI/ robotics POV. Some of the
basic issues are: whether children first learning words assume they point to
whole object or a part, and to object or object engaged in action. It all
comes down to the basic issues of how an intelligent agent must learn to
categorise the world from first principles. I'll have to check out whether
Alison Gopnik has written on all this - she's great on these areas.
Breaking the Language Barrier: An Emergentist Coalition Model for the
Origins of Word Learning
George J. Hollich, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Rebecca J.
Brand, Ellie Brown, He Len Chung, Elizabeth Hennon, Camille Rocroi, Lois
Bloom
Abstract
How do children learn their first words? The field of language development
has been polarized by responses to this question. Explanations range from
constraints/principles accounts that emphasize the importance of cognitive
heuristics in language acquisition, to social-pragmatic accounts that
highlight the role of parent-child interaction, to associationistic accounts
that highlight the role of "dumb attentional mechanisms" in word learning.
In this "Monograph," an alternative to these accounts is presented: the
emergentist coalition theory. A hybrid view of word learning, this theory
characterizes lexical acquisition as the emergent product of multiple
factors, including cognitive constraints, social-pragmatic factors, and
global attentional mechanisms. The model makes three assumptions: (a) that
children cull from multiple inputs available for word learning at any given
time, (b) that these inputs are differentially weighted over development,
and (c) that children develop emergent principles of word learning, which
guide subsequent word acquisition. With few exceptions, competing accounts
of the word learning process have examined children who are already veteran
word learners. By focusing on the very beginnings of word learning at around
12 months of age, however, it is possible to see how social and cognitive
factors are coordinated in the process of vocabulary development. After
presenting a new method for investigating word learning, the development of
reference is used as a test case of the theory. In 12 experiments, with
children ranging in age from 12 to 25 months of age, data are described that
support the emergentist coalition model. This fundamentally developmental
theory posits that children construct principles of word learning. As
children's word learning principles emerge and develop, the character of
word learning changes over the course of the 2nd year of life.
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