Abstract
Sound-symbolism is the nonarbitrary link between the sound and meaning of a word. Japanese-speaking children performed better in a verb generalization task when they were taught novel sound-symbolic verbs, created based on existing Japanese sound-symbolic words, than novel nonsound-symbolic verbs (Imai, Kita, Nagumo, & Okada, 2008). A question remained as to whether the Japanese children had picked up regularities in the Japanese sound-symbolic lexicon or were sensitive to universal sound-symbolism. The present study aimed to provide support for the latter. In a verb generalization task, English-speaking 3-year-olds were taught novel sound-symbolic verbs, created based on Japanese sound-symbolism, or novel nonsound-symbolic verbs. English-speaking children performed better with the sound-symbolic verbs, just like Japanese-speaking children. We concluded that children are sensitive to universal sound-symbolism and can utilize it in word learning and generalization, regardless of their native language.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 575-586 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Cognitive Science |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 31 Jan 2011 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2011 |
Keywords
- Language development
- Sound-symbolism
- Word learning
- Verb
- Mimetics
- Language acquisition