CHILDREN'S DEVELOPING AWARENESS OF THE COMPLEX MEANINGS OF THE "SLEEP VERBS"

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CHILDREN'S DEVELOPING AWARENESS OF THE COMPLEX MEANINGS OF THE "SLEEP VERBS"

Journal Title: Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language) - Year 2012, Vol 6, Issue 1

Abstract

This study aimed at examining the semantic acquisition of two sets of converse verbs associated with 'sleep': sleep-get up, fall asleep-wake up by Hebrew speaking children aged 2-12. It was hypothesized that the order of acquisition is as above, determined by the semantic features of markedness and positivity, and that the child has to be at an advanced stage of cognitive development in order to be able to fully understand the semantic features of these verbs. The results showed that the order of acquisition is different from the one predicted, since wake up (which is "negative") is evidently acquired before fall asleep (a "positive" action). Hence positivity does not play as great a role in the order of acquisition of those verbs as predicted. Instead, the frequency of the verb was found to have a larger role in acquisition. The order of acquisition of the various semantic features of the 'sleep' verbs was postulated as well, and explained by some semantic theories. The study revealed interesting findings about children's understanding of different concepts. It was found that young children do not understand the difference between ability and permission, place an important role on functionality, and do not fully understand sleep's essentiality to life. It was also shown that correct answers do not always reflect understanding, and that children tend to answer yes/no questions positively, even if they do not know the answer. Children's experience in life and their intellectual-cognitive maturity determine the rate of their acquisition of complex features. This conclusion, demonstrated by the feature acquisition of the 'sleep' verbs, coincides with the other hypothesis of the study.

Authors and Affiliations

Shira Koren

Keywords

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EP ID EP135123
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