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Words, Plans, Things, and Locations: Interactions Between Semantic and Cognitive Development in the One-Word Stage

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Part of the book series: Springer Series in Cognitive Development ((2116))

Abstract

If we want to understand the interaction between semantic and cognitive development, the one-word stage is a natural place to start. Since children only use one word at a time, we don’t have to be too concerned about syntax. Fortunately, we know something about cognitive developments in this period and, even more fortunately, we have nonlinguistic ways of measuring these developments. Moreover, by looking at the very first words, we can hope to find out about the origins of meaning itself. We can witness the very first meeting of cognition and language, before they become hopelessly intertwined.

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Gopnik, A., Meltzoff, A.N. (1986). Words, Plans, Things, and Locations: Interactions Between Semantic and Cognitive Development in the One-Word Stage. In: Kuczaj, S.A., Barrett, M.D. (eds) The Development of Word Meaning. Springer Series in Cognitive Development. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4844-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4844-6_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

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