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Children's Sensitivity to Phonological and Semantic Cues During Noun Class Learning: Evidence for a Phonological Bias

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Jennifer Culbertson,
Hanna Jarvinen,
Frances Haggarty and
Kenny Smith
Jennifer Culbertson*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Hanna Jarvinen*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Frances Haggarty*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Kenny Smith*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
*
Culbertson, Dugald Stewart Building, 3 Charles Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AD, UK [jennifer.culbertson@ed.ac.uk]
[Hanna.Jarvinen@ed.ac.uk]
[frances.i.haggarty@gmail.com]
[kenny.smith@ed.ac.uk]
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Abstract

Previous research on the acquisition of noun classification systems (e.g. grammatical gender) has found that child learners rely disproportionately on phonological cues to determine the class of a new noun, even when competing semantic cues are more reliable in their language. Culbertson, Gagliardi, and Smith (2017) use artificial language learning experiments with adults to argue that this likely results from the early availability of phonological information during acquisition. Learners base their initial representations on formal features of nouns, only later integrating semantic cues from noun meanings. Here, we use these same methods to show that early availability affects cue use in children (six- to seven-year-olds) as well. However, we also find evidence of developmental changes in sensitivity to semantics; when both cue types are simultaneously available, children are more likely to rely on phonology than adults are. Our results suggest that both early availability and a bias favoring phonological cues contribute to children's overreliance on phonology in natural language acquisition.

Keywords

language acquisitiongendernoun classificationartificial language learningphonologysemantics

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 95 , Issue 2 , June 2019, pp. 268 - 293
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 Linguistic Society of America

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