美国之音2007标准下半年AScientists Develop New Theory on How Toddlers
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Scientists Develop New Theory on How Toddlers Learn to Speak
By Jessica Berman
Washington
03 August 2007
At around one year of age, most babies utter their first word. A short time later, a second word is spoken.
Bob McMurray is a professor of psychology at the University of Iowa.
"And it would be very tempting to say, 'Wow, look at the rate of acquisition has sped up,' right? 'It took them a year to learn mommy but only a month to learn daddy.' But in actuality that child was probably working on that word daddy all along. They really spend a year and a month to learning the word daddy," he explained.
McMurray says once toddlers begin speaking their first few words, it is only a matter of time before they seem to learn words at a faster rate. According to the psychologist, the first word spurt usually occurs around 18 months of age.
When the burst of language occurs, McMurray says, the conventional theory among psychologists is that toddlers are rapidly developing specialized learning tools, such as the ability to recognize that objects have names.
But according to a computer model McMurray created, toddlers have "word spurts" after they have gathered enough easy, similar sounding words - like mama, dada, dog and cat. Once they have mastered these words, by repeating them over and over again, they then tackle more difficult words. McMurray says the exposure to more difficult words is a key factor in the word spurt.
"The critical factor is actually how many words are hard and how many words are easy. So, as long as you have, and this is what we were able to prove mathematically, more difficult words than easy words, you're always going to get some kind of acceleration in word learning," he added.
McMurray believes his model demonstrates that the word spurt of toddlers is the result of their understanding of more complex words.
"Kids are keeping track of lots and lots of words at the same time," he explained. "They may not be using all of the words they've learned, but as they are hearing words, they are soaking [them] up. They are not waiting until they are done learning one word before moving on to the next."
The study on toddlers' word development is in the journal Science.
学步幼儿如何学说话？科学家提出新理论
大概在一岁左右，大部分孩子发出第一个字汇。很短时间后，发出了第二个字汇。
Bob McMurray是美国爱荷华大学的心理学教授。
具有诱惑力地讲，哇，看看他们获得单词的速度在加快，真的吗？他们花了一年的时间去学字汇妈妈，但是仅一个月时间去学字汇爸爸。实际上，孩子也可能是一直在学字汇爸爸。他们确实花了一年零一个月的时间学习字汇爸爸，他解释道。
McMurray说一旦孩子开始说一些字汇，他们仅仅需要很短时间便可以很快速度学习其他词汇。根据心理学家所讲，第一个单词通常在其18个月时发出。
当发出语言时，McMurray 说，心理学家的通常理论是初学走路的孩子很快发展一种专门的学习技能，例如具备了认知有名字的物体的能力。
但是根据McMurray创造的计算机模拟，初学走路的孩子在积累了足够简单的，相似的，发声的单词，像妈妈，爸爸，狗，猫之后便将其发出音来。一旦他们掌握了那些字汇之后，他们通过一遍又一遍的重复克服了更多的困难字汇。McMurray说接触难词是出现词汇激增现象的关键因素。
实际上重要因素是划分多少个字汇是困难的，多少个字汇是容易的。所以，只要你具备了更多的困难字汇，并且这也是我们能够准确证明的，你就会提高字汇学习速度，他补充道。
McMurray认为他的模拟显示初学走路的孩子的字汇发音是他们理解了更多复杂单词的结果。
“孩子们同时明白了很多单词，他解释道，但不可能应用他们学会的所有单词，当听见那些字汇时，他们会牢记心头。他们在继续学习下一个单词之前迫不及待地学习另一个单词。
学步幼儿如何学说话发展研究刊登在《科学》周刊上。
