Kaleidoscience: Conversations on Cognitive Science
S3 #45 How do children learn adjectives? Brain-to-brain with Charlotte Uhlemann.
March 12, 202650 min · 5,831 words
Show notes
References: Kennedy, C., & McNally, L. (2005). Scale structure, degree modification, and the semantics of gradable predicates. Language, 81(2), 345-381. Kennedy, C. (2007). Vagueness and grammar: The semantics of relative and absolute gradable adjectives. Linguistics and philosophy, 30(1), 1-45. Syrett, K. (2024). Challenges and Strategies for Acquiring Adjectives. Language and Linguistics Compass, 18(6), e70000. Tribushinina, E. (2018).
Highlighted moments
adjectives are actually harder for children to acquire than nouns and verbs from a structure semantic, structural semantic perspective. Because they don't really label this entire object, but they label one certain property of an object.
“minimum standard adjectives need a minimal amount of something to apply. So as an example, we would have dirty, for example. So a shirt to count as dirty needs a minimum amount of dirt on it.”
“Relative adjectives always need to be compared to something. While minimum and maximum, so our absolute adjectives, they don't need that much context. They are more context independent.”
“in order to grasp the concept of, for example, a large house, it's easiest to see a small house next to it. So you can really understand that in contrast.”
Transcript
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