Carroll, Susanne E. et Hracs, Lindsay
(2024).
« Learning functional categories in a second language on initial exposure: Classifiers » (Colloque 50 ans de linguistique à l'UQAM : Regards croisés sur les enjeux de la linguistique, Université du Québec à Montréal, 22 au 24 avril 2021), sous la dir. de Pinsonneault, Reine et Léveillé, Yoann.
Montréal, pp. 51-63.
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Résumé
We explore the interaction of linguistic and visual stimuli in the learning of nouns and classifiers in a novel language on first exposure. To interpret pictures, knowledgeable language users often rely on language that suggests what in the picture a speaker might be talking about. On first exposure to another language, this is not possible. It is often assumed that visual stimuli support inferences needed to learn the meanings of words. Within the Conceptual Semantics framework (Jackendoff, 1983, 2010, 2015), both noun phrases and nominal classifiers may express ontological categories such as THING, INDIVIDUAL, AMOUNT (of THINGs), (THING-)SHAPE, (THING-)SIZE, and (THING-)PROPERTY. Crucially, ontological categories may be independently accessed via visual stimuli to guide initial associations of conceptual representations and sound forms. We provide preliminary data showing that it is possible for adults to make such initial associations. Even with complex pictures, noun learning is comparatively easy. Classifier learning is much harder because it requires learners to extract “contrasts” across multiple stimuli.
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