What is the taxonomic constraint?

What is the taxonomic constraint?

• A. The bias toward extending a new word to items in the same category
• B. Bias toward extending a word to thematically related items
• C. Preference for learning words from social contexts
• D. Tendency to apply grammar rules to all words

Answer: (A)

The taxonomic constraint captures the tendency in early word learning to extend a newly learned word to other items that are of the same kind or category, rather than to items that are merely related through a shared theme or co-occurrence. If a child learns a word for a dog, they’re more likely to apply it to other dogs than to things that are thematically connected to dogs (like a bone or a leash). This bias toward category-based extension helps build stable vocabularies by focusing on shared intrinsic features rather than external associations. So choosing the option that describes extending to items in the same category best matches what this constraint predicts. Thematically related extensions would correspond to a different kind of mapping, which the taxonomic constraint doesn’t emphasize.

The taxonomic constraint captures the tendency in early word learning to extend a newly learned word to other items that are of the same kind or category, rather than to items that are merely related through a shared theme or co-occurrence. If a child learns a word for a dog, they’re more likely to apply it to other dogs than to things that are thematically connected to dogs (like a bone or a leash). This bias toward category-based extension helps build stable vocabularies by focusing on shared intrinsic features rather than external associations. So choosing the option that describes extending to items in the same category best matches what this constraint predicts. Thematically related extensions would correspond to a different kind of mapping, which the taxonomic constraint doesn’t emphasize.