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Young children benefit from iconicity when learning novel onomatopoeia
Kirsty R Green1, Marcus Perlman2, Sotaro Kita1
1Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, West Midlands, United Kingdom.
Child Development
|April 21, 2026
Summary
Iconic animal sounds, or onomatopoeia, help children learn new words. This word learning advantage was more significant for 3-year-olds than 18-month-olds in a recent study.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Infant-directed speech often features onomatopoeia, suggesting it aids early word acquisition.
- The inherent iconicity of onomatopoeia may facilitate learning, but infants' familiarity with imitated sounds is a confounding factor.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether the iconicity of onomatopoeia aids children's word learning.
- To determine if this effect differs between younger (18-month-olds) and older (3-year-olds) children.
Main Methods:
- 111 children (18-month-olds and 3-year-olds) were assigned to learn toy names that were either congruent or incongruent with the toy's animal sound.
- Children's ability to learn the toy names was subsequently assessed.
Main Results:
- Children demonstrated significantly better learning of congruent onomatopoeic names compared to incongruent ones.
- This facilitative effect of iconicity was statistically significant only for the 3-year-old group.
Conclusions:
- The iconicity present in onomatopoeia appears to enhance children's word learning.
- This benefit may be more pronounced in older children, suggesting developmental differences in processing iconic word forms.
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