A critical question about early word learning is whether word learning constraints such as mutual exclusivity exist and foster early language acquisition. It is well established that children will map a novel label to a novel rather than a familiar object. Evidence for the role of mutual exclusivity in such indirect word learning has been questioned because: (1) it comes mostly from 2 and 3-year-olds and (2) the findings might be accounted for, not by children avoiding second labels, but by the novel object which creates a lexical gap children are motivated to fill. Three studies addressed these concerns by having only a familiar object visible. Fifteen to seventeen and 18-20-month-olds were selected to straddle the vocabulary spurt. In Study 1, babies saw a familiar object and an opaque bucket as a location to search. Study 2 handed babies the familiar object to play with. Study 3 eliminated an obvious location to search. On the whole, babies at both ages resisted second labels for objects and, with some qualifications, tended to search for a better referent for the novel label. Thus mutual exclusivity is in place before the onset of the naming explosion. The findings demonstrate that lexical constraints enable babies to learn words even under non-optimal conditions--when speakers are not clear and referents are not visible. The results are discussed in relation to an alternative social-pragmatic account.

中文翻译：

---

年轻单词学习者对互斥假设的使用

关于早期单词学习的一个关键问题是是否存在相互排斥等单词学习限制并促进早期语言习得。众所周知，儿童会将小说标签映射到小说而不是熟悉的对象。相互排他性在这种间接单词学习中的作用的证据受到质疑，因为：（1）它主要来自 2 岁和 3 岁的孩子，以及（2）这些发现可能是由于儿童避免使用第二个标签，但通过创造词汇空白的新对象，孩子们有动力去填补。三项研究通过只看到一个熟悉的物体来解决这些问题。选择了 15 到 17 岁和 18 到 20 个月大的孩子来跨越词汇量激增。在研究 1 中，婴儿看到一个熟悉的物体和一个不透明的桶作为搜索位置。研究 2 将熟悉的物体交给婴儿玩耍。研究 3 消除了一个明显的搜索位置。总的来说，两个年龄段的婴儿都拒绝给物体贴上第二个标签，并且在一定条件下，倾向于为新的标签寻找更好的参照物。因此，在命名爆炸开始之前就存在互斥性。研究结果表明，词汇限制使婴儿即使在非最佳条件下也能学习单词——当说话者不清楚且所指对象不可见时。讨论结果与另一种社会语用帐户有关。因此，在命名爆炸开始之前就存在互斥性。研究结果表明，词汇限制使婴儿即使在非最佳条件下也能学习单词——当说话者不清楚且所指对象不可见时。讨论结果与另一种社会语用帐户有关。因此，在命名爆炸开始之前就存在互斥性。研究结果表明，词汇限制使婴儿即使在非最佳条件下也能学习单词——当说话者不清楚且所指对象不可见时。讨论结果与另一种社会语用帐户有关。