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Structure and Use in the Acquisition of word Formation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Eve V. Clark and
Ruth A. Berman
Eve V. Clark
Affiliation:
Stanford University
Ruth A. Berman
Affiliation:
Tel Aviv University
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Abstract

Children, like adults, coin words to fill lexical gaps. To do this, children must build up a repertoire of word formation devices to use. This study examines the influence of semantico transparency, of formal simplicity, of productivity, and of conventionality on the acquisition of a repertoire of word formation devices by looking at the role of these principles in Hebrew-speaking children's coinages of novel agent and instrument nouns, and comparing their patterns of acquisition to those of English-speaking children for the same lexical domains.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 60 , Issue 3 , September 1984, pp. 542 - 590
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 by Linguistic Society of America

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