Leopards Are Kitty-Cats: Object Labeling by Mothers for Their Thirteen-Month-Olds

Abstract

MERVIS, CAROLYN B., and MERvIs, CYNTHIA A. Leopards Are Kitty-Cats: Object Labeling by Mothers for Their Thirteen-Month-Olds. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1982, 53, 267-273. The present research was concerned with a semantic aspect of maternal speech to young children: maternal choice of object labels. It has previously been argued that adults label objects with names that denote basic level categories, regardless of the age of the listener. We hypothesized that the basic level would sometimes differ for young children and adults due to young children's limited knowledge about objects and their culturally appropriate functions. In such cases, the mother should name objects at the child-basic level, even if these names are incorrect by adult standards. In order to test this hypothesis, we observed 10 mother-13-month-old dyads as they played with a specially chosen set of toys. Predictions concerning which objects should be included in the child-basic category were based on the principles generally used to predict which category in a hierarchy will be basic. Results of an analysis of maternal object labels indicated that mothers do name objects for their 13-month-olds at the child-basic level rather than the adult-basic level. These results cannot be explained simply by reference to the child's naming behavior. The question of how the mother comes to notice differences between child and adult categorization schemes, and how she responds to these differences, was considered.

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