title: Slow mapping: color word learning as a gradual inductive process.
abstract: Most current accounts of color word acquisition propose that the delay between children's first production of color words and adult-like understanding is due to problems abstracting color as a domain of meaning. Here we present evidence against this hypothesis, and show that, from the time children produce color words in a labeling task they use them to represent color. In Experiment 1, an analysis of early color word errors finds that, before acquiring adult-like understanding, children make systematic hypotheses about color word meanings, which are best characterized as overextensions of adult meanings. Using a comprehension task, Experiment 2 finds that these overextensions are due to overly broad color categories, rather than a communicative strategy. These results indicate that the delay between production and adult-like understanding of color words is not due to difficulties abstracting color, but is largely attributable to the problem of determining the color boundaries marked by specific languages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, 0109, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States. kgwagner@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dobkins
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barner
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003116:Color; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology