Breaking the Language Barrier: An Emergentist Coalition Model of Word Learning (Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development) [Paperback]

George Hollich (Author), Kathy Hirsh-Pasek (Author), Roberta Golinkoff (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0631221549 | ISBN-13: 978-0631221548 | Publication Date: October 26, 2000 | Edition: 1

How do children learn their first words? The field of language development has been polarized by responses to this question. Explanations range from accounts that emphasize the importance of cognitive heuristics in language acquisition, to those that highlight the role of "dumb attentional mechanisms" in word learning. This monograph offers an alternative to these accounts. A hybrid view of word-learning, called the emergentist coalition theory, combines cognitive constraints, social-pragmatic factors, and global attentional mechanisms to arrive at a balanced account of how children construct principles of word learning. In twelve experiments, with children ranging from 12 to 25 months of age, data are described that support the emergentist coalition theory.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In short, this is an admirably designed and executed experiment, concisely and admirably documented, that makes important points about the multivalent process that is child word learning; perhaps it is mark of the experiment's strong design that it seems to raise as many questions as it answers, as does language learning itself. David Golumbia, Linguistlist.org

From the Back Cover

How do children learn their first words? The field of language development has been polarized by responses to this question. Explanations range from accounts that emphasize the importance of cognitive heuristics in language acquisition, to those that highlight the role of "dumb attentional mechanisms" in word learning. This monograph offers an alternative to these accounts. A hybrid view of word-learning, called the emergentist coalition theory, combines cognitive constraints, social-pragmatic factors, and global attentional mechanisms to arrive at a balanced account of how children construct principles of word learning. In twelve experiments, with children ranging from 12 to 25 months of age, data are described that support the emergentist coalition theory.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (October 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631221549
• ISBN-13: 978-0631221548
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #946,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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