title: How symbolic experience shapes children's symbolic flexibility.
abstract: The current experiments asked whether children with dual-symbolic experience (e.g., unimodal bilingual and bimodal) develop a preference for words like monolingual children (Namy & Waxman, 1998). In Experiment 1, ninety-five 18- and 24-month-olds, with monolingual, unimodal bilingual, or bimodal symbolic experience, were tested in their willingness to treat digitized sounds as referents. In Experiment 2, forty-seven 24-month-olds, with the same types of symbolic experience, were tested in their willingness to treat novel words as referents. Monolingual children performed in ways indicative of a growing preference for words, whereas children with dual-symbolic experience performed in ways indicative of consistency in symbolic flexibility over time. Results suggest that the developmental trajectory of children's symbolic flexibility might depend on their symbolic experience.
authors: California State University, Northridge.
authors: Emily E
authors: EE
authors: Thom
authors: Catherine M
authors: CM
authors: Sandhofer
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D019303:Multilingualism; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D013561:Symbolism; D014825:Vocabulary