Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:32:50.271Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Restructuring of similarity neighbourhoods in the developing mental lexicon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2002

HOLLY L. STORKEL
HOLLY L. STORKEL
Affiliation:
Indiana University (now at the University of Kansas)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Previous evidence suggests that the structure of similarity neighbourhoods in the developing mental lexicon may differ from that of the fully developed lexicon. The similarity relationships used to organize words into neighbourhoods was investigated in 20 pre-school children (age 3;7 to 5;11) using a two alternative forced-choice classification task. Children classified the similarity of test words relative to a standard word to determine neighbourhood membership. The similarity relationship between the test and standard words varied orthogonally in terms of type of similarity and position of overlap. Standard words were drawn from neighbourhoods differing in density. Results showed that dense neighbourhoods were organized by phoneme similarity in the onset+nucleus or rhyme positions of overlap. In contrast, sparse neighbourhoods appeared to be organized by phoneme similarity in the onset+nucleus, but manner similarity in the rhyme. These results are integrated with previous findings from infants and adults to propose a developmental course of change in the mental lexicon.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , May 2002 , pp. 251 - 274
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health to Indiana University, Bloomington (DC 00012, DC01694, DC04781). We appreciate the insightful comments and assistance provided by Judith Gierut throughout this project. Toby Calandra, Annette Champion, and Michele Morrisette aided in the recruitment of participants. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers who provided helpful comments on a previous version of this manuscript.