The Development of Natural Language Concepts

Abstract

SALTZ, ELI; SOLLER, ELAINE; and SIGEL, IRVING E. The Development of Natural Language Concepts. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1972, 43, 1191-1202. In order to examine the developmental trends in the acquisition of natural language concepts children 5-6, 8-9, and 11-12 years of age (24 children per age) were asked to select which of 70 different pictures were instances of each of 6 different concepts. A careful analysis of the choices suggested 2 major developmental trends at work. First, younger children tended to acquire fragmented subconcepts which were strongly tied to specific stimulus contexts. With age, concept integration developed. Second, younger children were heavily dependent on perceptual attributes in identifying concepts. With age, functional and abstract attributes became more important. The results were related to hypotheses suggested by Saltz and Sigel (1967) concerning developmental factors in concept learning.

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