The Influence of Exemplar Variability on Young Children’s Construal of Verb Meaning

Verbs serve as the architectural centerpiece of sentences, making verb learning pivotal for language acquisition. Verb requires both formation a verb-action mapping and abstraction relations between an object its action. Two competing positions have been proposed to explain process learning: (a) seeing highly variable range exemplars allows children detect abstract commonalities across actions—the action invariants; (b) less enables focus on extract invariants. Using manner—a major component meaning in English—as test case, this study addressed debate by examining influence manner variability ability fast-map new verbs extend them novel 2-, 3-, 4-year-old English-speaking children. Results contribute showing that high hindered fast-mapping but facilitated extension variations 2- 3-year-olds. Thus, exemplar may affect differently. Furthermore, did not 4-year-olds’ (or adults’) or extension, suggesting attenuates with age. Finally, agent revealing component-specific effect extension.