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Context sensitivity and insensitivity in object naming

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2014

Barbara C. Malt
Barbara C. Malt*
Affiliation:
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA. E-mail: barbara.malt@lehigh.edu
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Abstract

Objects can almost always be called by more than one name, and the name chosen depends on the context. However, studies of naming in some traditions elicit names by showing objects in isolation and asking merely What is it? If the names produced are not the same as those that would be given in more fully specified communicative contexts, the value of the tasks for understanding object naming is in doubt. The current study examined the effects of different communicative demands on naming of 60 household containers. A standard “free naming” task was contrasted with two other versions. In these two, participants had the goal of getting an addressee to find a target object among others. In one, each object needed to be distinguished from a small set of dissimilar objects, visible to the addressee. In the other, each needed to be distinguished from a large set of similar objects, not visible to the addressee. Responses were sensitive to context in the number of modifiers produced. However, they were insensitive in the head nouns produced. Simple naming tasks such as What is it? can produce results for head nouns equivalent to those from tasks providing more fully specified communicative contexts.

Keywords

object namingreferential communicationcontext effectscommunicative goalsbasic level names
Type
Research Article
Information
Language and Cognition , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , March 2013 , pp. 81 - 97
Copyright
Copyright © UK Cognitive Linguistics Association 2013

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