Date Thesis Awarded
5-2024
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Arts (BA)
Department
Linguistics
Advisor
Kate Harrigan
Committee Members
Shinji Shimoura
Sadhwi Srinivas
Anya Hogoboom
Abstract
This study examined the ability of children aged 4-6 to use adjective order to syntactically bootstrap meaning onto novel adjectives. Following the work of Beyer et al 2024, this study presented to children illustrations of pillows and accompanying strings of novel adjectives embedded into sentences. Test trials were given as a forced-choice task between two options of visual stimuli. Children did not succeed at the task, performing at chance across both trials in the study. This indicates that children were unable to bootstrap adjective meaning based solely on adjective order in the context of the study, which is in sharp contrast with their abilities to bootstrap meaning based on other syntactic structures, such as transitivity. These results lend support to the theory that adjective order is not acquired by children until a later point in time. This may be due to adjective order constraints being tied to a concept that younger children cannot utilize yet, such as subjectivity, which is not learned until roughly age 9.
Recommended Citation
Beyer, Arlen, "Adjective order as a word learning cue in preschool-aged children" (2024). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 2170.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/2170
