Factors influencing early lexical acquisition: lexical orientation and phonological composition

LEONARD, LAURENCE B.; SCHWARTZ, RICHARD G.; MomRIs, BARBARA; and CHAPMAN, KATHY. Factors Influencing Early Lexical Acquisition: Lexical Orientation and Phonological Composition. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1981, 52, 882-887. Young children classified as referential and nonreferential in lexical orientation participated in experimental sessions in which new object and action words, containing consonants either observed in or absent from the children's speech, were exposed. Referential children acquired a greater number of object names than nonreferential children, while the 2 groups did not differ in their acquisition of action names. Words containing consonants consistent with the children's phonologies were acquired more readily than those that were not. The results are interpreted as support for the view that children's tendency to acquire new words is influenced by the topographical features of the words and the degree to which the referents of these words are consistent with the children's individual lexical preferences.