Chapter 5: Learning Words

5.1 Words and Their Interface to Sound

• Which sounds to attach to meanings?
• Studying how children map sounds to meaning: The switch task
• 5.1 Questions to Contemplate

5.2 Reference and Concepts

• Words and objects
• Box 5.1: Some sources of non-arbitrariness in spoken languages
• Categories large and small
• Language at Large 5.1: How different languages cut up the concept pie
• Cues for forming categories
• 5.2 Questions to Contemplate

5.3 Understanding Speakers’ Intentions

• Associations versus intentions
• Social cues modulate word learning
• Researchers at Work 5.1: Assessing the accuracy of adult speakers
• Method 5.1: Revisiting the switch task
• 5.3 Questions to Contemplate

5.4 Parts of Speech

• Verbs and other learning problems
• Children use syntax to constrain meaning
• 5.4 Questions to Contemplate

5.5 The Role of Language Input

• Inequalities
• What does high-quality input look like?
• Input meets the developing mind
• Box 5.2: Learning from bilingual input
• 5.5 Questions to Contemplate

5.6 Complex Words

• Some assembly required
• Language at Large 5.2: McLanguage and the perils of branding by prefix
• Box 5.3: The very complex morphology of Czech
• Words versus rules
• One system or two?
• Box 5.4: Separate brain networks for words and rules
• 5.6 Questions to Contemplate
• Digging Deeper: The chicken-and-egg problem of language and thought

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