The development of noun definition

Meta-Representational Skills in Bullying Roles: The Influence of Definitional Competence and Empathy

This study investigated the influence of meta-representational aspects on bullying. Meta-representation was operationalized in terms of the metalinguistic skill to produce conventional definitions, reflecting culturally shared representations and of the meta-level capacity to represent others' mental states underlying empathic disposition. One hundred and seventeen children, aged between 8;5 and 10;11 years, completed a definitional task and self-report questionnaires on bullying roles and empathic disposition. Descriptive, correlational, and regression analyses were performed. Results confirmed that hostile roles are negatively related to definitional competence and to empathic disposition. Lack of definitional competence was the main predictor (accounting for about 16% of variance), followed by empathy (explaining a further 6% of variance) of Primary School children's disposition to assume aggressive behaviors. These findings suggest that a lack of general meta-representational abilities may hinder the development of abstract and other-centered perspective taking, and compromise (compromising) social adjustment. This implies the need to work, particularly in school, on enhancing meta-representational and metalinguistic skills, such as the ability to recognize mental states and verbally make explicit cultural-semantic word meaning representations.

The Role of Cognitive Abilities in the Development of Definitions by Children with and Without Developmental Language Disorder

This study (a) examines the role of cognitive abilities, age and vocabulary in the development of definitions and (b) compares the development of definitions (in content and form) in children with and without Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Definitions have been extensively studied in (non-)impaired populations. So far, no studies have tested the impact of cognitive abilities on the development of definitions. To address this gap, ten children with DLD and ten non-impaired peers were tested through a definition task and two cognitive tasks. The results exhibited that the control group produced more accurate definitions, albeit only in content, than the impaired group. Regressions showed that, in the impaired group, the younger the participants the better the scores. For the non-impaired group, age and verbal working memory found to predict the performance on definitions. Thus, we deduce that (a) the development of definitions is driven by different mechanisms in (non-)impaired children and (b) the role of early intervention seems to be important for atypical populations.

Linear Mixed-Model Analysis to Examine Longitudinal Trajectories in Vocabulary Depth and Breadth in Children Who Are Hard of Hearing

Purpose Children who are hard of hearing (CHH) tend to have reduced vocabularies compared to children with normal hearing (CNH). Prior research on vocabulary skills in children with hearing loss has focused primarily on their breadth of knowledge (how many words are known). Depth of vocabulary knowledge (how well words are known) is not well documented for CHH. The current study used linear mixed models (LMMs) to investigate growth trajectories of vocabulary depth and breadth in CHH relative to age-matched CNH. Method Participants for this study included 155 children (93 CHH, 62 CNH) enrolled in a longitudinal study. Examiners administered a standardized measure of vocabulary knowledge at ages 7, 8, and 9 years. We constructed multiple LMMs with fixed effects for group and age. The models included various combinations of random intercepts for subject and item and random slope for age. Results For depth, CHH showed significant and stable deficits compared to CNH over time. For breadth, CNH showed greater vocabulary breadth, but the group differences diminished with age. For CHH, higher aided audibility, age, and maternal educational level were associated with greater vocabulary breadth and depth. Age at hearing aid fitting was not. Conclusions A major advantage of using LMM is that it allowed us to cope with missing data points while still accounting for variability within and across participants. Assessment of both vocabulary breadth and depth may be useful in identifying school-age CHH who are at risk of delays in language outcomes.

An analysis of noun definition in Cantonese

This study investigated the noun definitions given by Cantonese speakers at different ages. Definitional responses on six concrete nouns from 1075 children aged 4;10 to 12;01 and 15 adults were analyzed with reference to the semantic content and the syntactic form. Results showed that conventional definitions produced by Cantonese adult speakers were realized with specific superordinates and more perceptual than functional attributes. The content was carried by a syntactic frame, "NP1, is NP2", where relative clause was not the predominant form of NP2 as in the English definition forms. Core attributes signifying the defining properties increased significantly with age while non-core attributes were observed relatively evenly throughout all groups. Preschoolers tended to drop the sentential-subject (i.e., NP1) and the copula is, and produce more functional than perceptual attributes. By Primary-2 (P2) (about 7;0), the taxonomic relation was coded with the frame of "NP1 is NP2". Beginning at P4 (about 9;0), children included a superordinate but the specificity of the adult-like superordinate was not achieved even by P6 (about 11;0). In general, developmental trends accorded with the trends observed in other languages, but typological features played a role in framing the development of the syntactic form.

The understanding of word definitions in school-age children

This study investigated children's understanding of unfamiliar noun and verb definitions in tasks that were manipulated for syntactic and semantic properties of definitions. The study was also designed to examine the relation between understanding word definitions and the skills of syntactic awareness and making inferences. A total of 117 children over three upper elementary grades (3, 4, 5) participated in the study. The definitional tasks were presented in multiple choice format, with each definition followed by four context sentences. In the syntactic/semantic condition, which included nouns and verbs, the context sentences were manipulated for syntactic and semantic properties. In the semantic condition, which included only nouns, the context sentences were manipulated only for semantics. All children also completed a syntactic awareness task and a making inferences task. Results indicated that children did not make significant grade improvements in the semantic task, but did so in the syntactic/semantic task, suggesting the dependence of syntactic cues on definitional understanding. Findings further suggested that inferencing and syntactic awareness are important to children's ability in understanding a definition for an unfamiliar word and to integrating that meaning into a context sentence.

Definitions of idioms in preadolescents, adolescents, and adults

The purpose of this study was to expand the current literature on word definitions by focusing on definitions of idioms provided by several age groups. Preadolescents, young adolescents, older adolescents, and adults wrote definitions for 10 frequently used idioms and also rated their familiarity with the idiomatic expressions. Participants' definitions were scored based on the degree to which their definitions reflected use of critical elements (determined by a standard dictionary of idioms), use of examples or related/associated concepts, and errors. Significant age differences were found in both idiom familiarity and idiom definition tasks: both idiom familiarity and definitional skill improved with age. In addition, we found a positive correlation between idiom familiarity and idiom definition. Results are discussed with respect to age-related changes in definitional response types and understanding of figurative language.

The effect of word frequency on noun and verb definitions: a developmental study

PURPOSE

Word frequency has profound effects in word recognition and production tasks. Here the influence of word frequency on definitions was investigated, and it was hypothesized that word frequency would have significant influence on responses provided for definitions of nouns and verbs.

METHOD

Students from Grades 4, 7, 10, and college wrote definitions for high- and low-frequency nouns and verbs and rated their familiarity with the stimulus words. In the noun study, definitions were coded with the semantic response categories "use/purpose," "description," "association/relation," "partial explanation," "explanation," and "error." "Partial explanation" and "explanation" responses were subcategorized to code for use of critical attributes of meaning and class terms. In the verb study, definitions were coded for "synonym," "association/relation," "class," "partial explanation," "explanation," and "error."

RESULTS

Results indicated that certain response categories (such as a class term or a critical attribute) were more characteristic in definitions of high- compared with low-frequency words, whereas responses (such as nonspecific class) were more characteristic in low- compared with high-frequency words. In addition, certain response categories increased with age (such as use of class terms and critical attributes), while errors decreased with age. Familiarity ratings served to validate the high- and low- frequency nature of the stimulus words.

CONCLUSIONS

In general, word frequency had a significant impact on word definitions. Implications are discussed with respect to word familiarity, representation in the mental lexicon, acquisition of word meaning, and shared linguistic knowledge.

Conceptions of objects across categories: childhood patterns resemble those of adults

Studies of category-specific disorders have suggested that categories of living and non-living things vary in the properties that are most salient to recognition. Studies of the object features generated by normal adults have also revealed different patterns of responses to different categories. These adult patterns are likely to originate in childhood, but there are few reports of children's verbal conceptions of objects, and none at present of objects from different categories. This paper investigates the development of object conceptions, in a large group of children, aged 3 years 7 months to 11 years 6 months, in response to 'What is a -- ?' questions directed to 72 objects, selected from two categories of living things (animals and fruit/vegetables) and two categories of artifacts (implements and vehicles). Proportions of perceptual-to-functional features provided by the children to living and non-living things varied with the range of features defined as functions, just as studies of adults have found. Apart from the distribution of superordinate responses, which were significantly more salient to living than to non-living categories, no other property separated the two categories. Only the category of implements could be distinguished from the other categories on the basis of the features generated. It is argued that the perceptual-functional theory of category-specific disorders receives little support from this study, but that in general the distribution of features generated by young children is similar to that produced by normal adults.

Accessing semantic knowledge in dementia: evidence from a word definition task

We examine production of word definitions by people with probable Alzheimer's disease (pAD). In the first experiment, healthy young adults defined concrete, imageable nouns to provide a baseline of definitional ability. Analysis of these definitions identified the key defining features of each target item. In the second experiment, pAD participants and elderly controls produced definitions of the same items. In the third experiment, healthy young participants rated the adequacies of these definitions. Although as expected the pAD participants produced fewer good definitions than the other two groups, most of their responses still contained some relevant information. pAD definitions contained fewer pieces of information and the information they produced was more tangential to the primary concept than that provided by the young or elderly participants. We identify two possible explanations in semantic loss and metalinguistic impairment. We consider metalinguistic impairment to provide the more plausible explanation of pAD patients' definitional performance.

Definitional skill in school-age children with specific language impairment

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the definitional skills in children with specific language impairment (SLI). Fifteen children with SLI and 15 matched control participants were asked to define 10 common high-frequency nouns (e.g., apple, horse, and boat). Definitions were scored for both content and form. Children with SLI scored significantly lower than children with typically developing language for both content and form. Results suggest that lexical access and/or lack of metalinguistic knowledge were potential causes for the lower scores earned by the children with SLI when defining common nouns. Implications for assessment of and intervention for definitional skill are discussed.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The reader will be able to explain the importance of definitional skill and how this skill generally develops in typically developing children. The reader will be able to describe the performance, in terms of content and form, of children with SLI and their typically developing peers in defining common high-frequency nouns. The reader will also be able to discuss what possible impact linguistic knowledge, metalinguistic knowledge, and lexical access have on children with SLI in defining the common nouns in this study.

School-Age Children and Adolescents

Word definition, as it is usually examined, is a prime example of decontextualized language use. Current trends in speech-language pathology emphasize the use of contextualized activities for assessing language development, and increasingly view decontextualized activities as outmoded. Word definition, however, should represent an exception to this trend, particularly with respect to school-age children and adolescents. This article describes various types of word definitions, explains the importance of the ability to define words, and reviews the growth of word definition during the school-age and adolescent years. It also offers suggestions for expanding the normative database for this sophisticated semantic ability.

Qualitative developments in the content and form of children's definitions

This research examined qualitative developments in school-age children's (N = 96) expressible knowledge of a sample of 434 words selected to represent the contents of a large unabridged dictionary. Definitions were classified according to the quality of both semantic content and syntactic form. Analyses revealed developmental increases in the proportions of known words and in the relative proportions of definitions credited for high-quality content and/or form. Children generally were more successful in expressing precise semantic content than in using conventional syntactic form. The work characteristics of part of speech and morphological composition also affected definitional quality, with coordination of high-quality content and form achieved earlier for root and compound nouns than for inflected and derived nouns for verbs and adjectives of all morphological types. Both lexical organization and differential experience may support the earlier use of conventional definitional form for root and compound nouns than for other word types. The results provide a more complete picture of the development of definitional skills.