HelexKids 2.0: A linguistically annotated lexical database building on HelexKids

Anthi Revithiadou1, Aris Terzopoulos2, Georgia Niolaki3

  • 1School of Philology, Department of Linguistics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University, Campus 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece. revith@lit.auth.gr.

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Language Development01:22

Language Development

Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
Components of Language01:24

Components of Language

Language, whether spoken, signed, or written, consists of specific components: lexicon and grammar. The lexicon is the vocabulary of a language, comprising its words. Grammar is the set of rules used to convey meaning through the lexicon. For example, English grammar adds “-ed” to most verbs to indicate past tense. Words are formed by combining phonemes, which are the basic sound units of a language. Different languages have different sets of phonemes (e.g., “ah” vs. “eh”). Phonemes combine to...
First Words During Infancy and Toddlerhood: Part 201:27

First Words During Infancy and Toddlerhood: Part 2

Early language development begins with receptive vocabulary, the words children understand before they can speak. By about 18 months, many children understand roughly 150 words and produce about 50. Children with larger vocabularies and faster processing may recognize words from their initial sounds. For example, hearing “daw” may prompt identification of a dog, showing sensitivity to phonological cues.Growth of Expressive VocabularyExpressive vocabulary, or spoken vocabulary, develops...
Language Development II: Nativist Perspective01:11

Language Development II: Nativist Perspective

The human capacity for language acquisition has long fascinated researchers. Noam Chomsky’s nativist theory challenged behaviorist views that language develops mainly through imitation and reinforcement. He argued that children produce novel, grammatically correct sentences that they have never heard before, suggesting that innate cognitive mechanisms support language learning. According to Chomsky, the brain is biologically prepared for language acquisition, allowing speech to develop...
Perceiving Language Sounds and Structure During Infancy01:20

Perceiving Language Sounds and Structure During Infancy

Infants are born with a predisposition to perceive and categorize basic linguistic sounds. Early in development, they can discriminate sounds from many languages and detect differences in rhythm and pattern. This sensitivity may begin before birth. Newborns exposed to two languages prenatally can recognize both, indicating that fetal language exposure influences later auditory discrimination.Recognition of Familiar SoundsBy five months, infants show preferences for familiar auditory stimuli,...