Experimental Psychology Seminar - The Development of Lexical Flexibility

 Speaker: Hugh Rabagliati, University of Edinburgh

A defining feature of human language is its creative capacity, allowing us to express an infinite number of different ideas. Cognitive science has made considerable strides in explaining how children master one source of linguistic creativity, i.e., grammar, but we know much less about the development of a second, subtler source of creativity: our ability to use words flexibly, to express multiple different meanings. I will present data from both experimental and typological work, which suggest that children have a sophisticated ability to learn about the flexible meanings of words and, moreover, that human languages are specifically adapted so as to facilitate lexical development in young children.