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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization
Published on: April 19, 2017
Young children do not change language
Vera Kempe1, Damián Blasi2, Limor Raviv3,4
1Abertay University, Dundee, UK v.kempe@abertay.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Language differs from other cultural domains in its high degree of normativity and conventionality; hence, many linguistic innovations by young children are considered acquisition errors that do not diffuse into language communities. Moreover, young children's cognitive-pragmatic limitations hinder their ability to introduce structure into novel communication systems. Consequently, children are unlikely agents of language change or drivers of language emergence.
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