Learning semantic categories of L2 verbs: The case of cutting and breaking verbs.

To attain native-like proficiency in second-language word usage, learners have to discover intricate semantic categories in the target language. We investigated the factors influencing the development of two aspects of second-language learners' semantic categories: the category center and category boundary of word meanings. In the experiment, second-language learners of Japanese, whose first language is Mandarin, were asked to produce the best verb for 28 videos depicting various cutting and breaking events. Descriptive analyses were conducted to compare the verb patterns used by second-language learners with those of native speakers. The second-language learners' verb use pattern suggested their struggle in delineating the semantic ranges of breaking verbs in a native-like manner. Model analyses further revealed that different factors contribute to learning two different aspects of word meanings. The learning category center of word meaning depended on the similarity between the lexical domains in the first and second languages. On the contrary, the success of learning the semantic boundaries of verbs required a large input frequency and smaller semantic coverage, and smaller category ambiguity. The results suggest that constructing a semantic domain in the second language should be evaluated from at least two different aspects of semantic representation.

Acquisition of the Meaning of the Word Orange Requires Understanding of the Meanings of Red, Pink, and Purple: Constructing a Lexicon as a Connected System.

This research investigated how children build up the language-specific system of the color lexicon, examining factors that play important roles for the construction of an adult-like color lexicon. We had 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old Japanese-speaking children and adults (n = 20, 18, 19, and 19, respectively) produce names for 93 color swatches. The results showed that children of all ages were able to apply most of the chromatic words to the colors close to the center of each category, but even 5-year-olds struggle to delineate the boundaries between the words. Furthermore, the model analyses revealed that broad-covering and high-frequency words are mapped to the center of the lexical category earlier. However, cross-individual consistency in adults' use contributed most strongly for the adult-like boundary delineation. The results suggest that the process of system construction consists of at least two steps (i.e., mapping words to their category center and finding appropriate boundaries between neighboring words), with the quantity and the quality of the input contributing differently to the steps.

Cross-linguistically shared and language-specific sound symbolism in novel words elicited by locomotion videos in Japanese and English.

This paper demonstrates a new quantitative approach to examine cross-linguistically shared and language-specific sound symbolism in languages. Unlike most previous studies taking a hypothesis-testing approach, we employed a data mining approach to uncover unknown sound-symbolic correspondences in the domain of locomotion, without limiting ourselves to pre-determined sound-meaning correspondences. In the experiment, we presented 70 locomotion videos to Japanese and English speakers and asked them to create a sound symbolically matching word for each action. Participants also rated each action on five meaning variables. Multivariate analyses revealed cross-linguistically shared and language-specific sound-meaning correspondences within a single semantic domain. The present research also established that a substantial number of sound-symbolic links emerge from conventionalized form-meaning mappings in the native languages of the speakers.

Word learning does not end at fast-mapping: evolution of verb meanings through reorganization of an entire semantic domain.

This paper explores the process through which children sort out the relations among verbs belonging to the same semantic domain. Using a set of Chinese verbs denoting a range of action events that are labeled by carrying or holding in English as a test case, we looked at how Chinese-speaking 3-, 5-, and 7-year-olds and adults apply 13 different verbs to a range of carrying/holding events. We asked how children learning Chinese originally divide and label the semantic space in this domain, how they discover the boundaries between different words, and how the meanings of verbs in the domain as a whole evolve toward the representations of adults. We also addressed the question of what factors make verb meaning acquisition easy or hard. Results showed that the pattern of children's verb use is largely different from that of adults and that it takes a long time for children to be able to use all verbs in this domain in the way adults do. We also found that children start to use broad-covering and frequent verbs the earliest, but use of these verbs tends to converge on adult use more slowly because children could not use these verbs as adults did until they had identified boundaries between these verbs and other near-synonyms with more specific meanings. This research highlights the importance of systematic investigation of words that belong to the same domain as a whole, examining how word meanings in a domain develop as parts of a connected system, instead of examining each word on its own: learning the meaning of a verb invites restructuring of the meanings of related, neighboring verbs.