Developmental change in children's sensitivity to sound symbolism
Christina Y Tzeng1, Lynne C Nygaard1, Laura L Namy1
1Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|April 24, 2017
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Sound symbolism, the link between word sounds and meaning, influences language acquisition.
- Children's early word learning may be aided by sensitivity to sound symbolic cues.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate developmental changes in children's ability to utilize sound symbolism.
- To compare children's performance with novel versus foreign sound-symbolic words.
Main Methods:
- Three-, five-, and seven-year-old children participated.
- Children matched novel and foreign words with sound symbolic meanings (round, pointy) to corresponding images.
- Accuracy was measured for both word types across age groups.
Main Results:
- Children's accuracy improved with age for both novel and foreign words.
- Children consistently matched novel sound-symbolic words to their meanings.
- Only older children (5 and 7 years) could reliably match foreign sound-symbolic words, while 3-year-olds performed at chance level.
Conclusions:
- Sensitivity to sound symbolism develops with age and language experience.
- While basic sound symbolism aids early word-referent mapping, more nuanced understanding requires greater linguistic exposure.
Keywords:
Cross-modal mappingsDevelopmental changeLanguage acquisitionSound symbolism sensitivitySound–meaning mappingsWord learningMore Related Videos
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