title: Development of abstract grammatical categorization in infants.
abstract: This study examined abstract syntactic categorization in infants, using the case of grammatical gender. Ninety-six French-learning 14-, 17-, 20-, and 30-month-olds completed the study. In a preferential looking procedure infants were tested on their generalized knowledge of grammatical gender involving pseudonouns and gender-marking determiners. The pseudonouns were controlled to contain no phonological or acoustical cues to gender. The determiner gender feature was the only information available. During familiarization, some pseudonouns followed a masculine determiner and others a feminine determiner. Test trials presented the same pseudonouns with different determiners in correct (consistent with familiarization gender pairing) versus incorrect gender agreement. Twenty-month-olds showed emerging knowledge of gender categorization and agreement. This knowledge was robust in 30-month-olds. These findings demonstrate that abstract, productive grammatical representations are present early in acquisition.
authors.affiliation: Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cyr
authors.forename: Rushen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007802:Language; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology