Fast-Mapping Placeholders: Using Words to Talk About Kinds

Abstract

Fast-mapping is the ability to acquire a word rapidly on the basis of minimal information. As proposed by Carey (1978), we assume that children are able to achieve fast-mapping because their initial word meanings are skeletal placeholders that will be extended gradually over time. In this paper, we propose that a notion of “kind” is fundamental to children's initial mappings for object labels. We illustrate this point by considering the acquisition of generic noun phrases, which are understood by children as kind-referring from very early on. We argue that the acquisition of generics has implications for mechanisms of word learning. Evidence suggests that generics cannot be acquired solely on the basis of associative learning mechanisms; rather, they are a default interpretation for young children.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by NICHD grant HD-36043 and NSF grant BCS-0817128 to Gelman and a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to Brandone. We thank Dan Swingley, Sandy Waxman, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on an earlier draft.