Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- PART I THEORY AND BACKGROUND
- PART II FROM 9 MONTHS TO 2 YEARS
- 6 Translation from Theory to Method
- 7 Developments in Expression
- 8 Developments in Affect Expression
- 9 Developments in Word Learning
- 10 Developments in Cognition
- 11 Meaning and Expression
- Appendix: Dictionary of Words in the Playroom
- Notes
- References
- Name Index
- Subject Index
11 - Meaning and Expression
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- PART I THEORY AND BACKGROUND
- PART II FROM 9 MONTHS TO 2 YEARS
- 6 Translation from Theory to Method
- 7 Developments in Expression
- 8 Developments in Affect Expression
- 9 Developments in Word Learning
- 10 Developments in Cognition
- 11 Meaning and Expression
- Appendix: Dictionary of Words in the Playroom
- Notes
- References
- Name Index
- Subject Index
Summary
Meanings are in persons' minds, not in words, and when we say that a word has or possesses such and such meanings, we are really saying that it has evoked, or caused, those meanings. Until it gets into a mind, a word is only puffs of air or streaks of ink.
(Edward Lee Thorndike)This book has been about how words get into minds. Acquiring the power of expression comes with learning the public, conventional meanings of a language for expressing and articulating the private, personal meanings in a mind. One-year-olds have been hearing words for some time, but words come to have meaning only when infants can appreciate the connections between what they hear (or the gestures they see) and what they are thinking and feeling. And because words express what a child's beliefs, desires, and feelings are about, they are only part of what happens in early language development. We tapped into some of what happens with early word learning when we looked at how the children played with objects and expressed emotion as they and their mothers spent an hour together each month in our playroom.
Let's go back to the simple example from an earlier chapter:
A child picks up a small block, says “more,” puts it on top of another block, smiles, and looks at her mother. Her mother smiles back.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Transition from Infancy to LanguageAcquiring the Power of Expression, pp. 243 - 264Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.