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How is Naming Learned? Margaret H. Bell, C. Fergus Lowe and Pauline J. Horne University of Wales, Wales In previous papers we have outlined a new theory of verbal behavior in which naming is proposed as the core behavioural unit. In our account, naming is a bi-directional relation between speaking and listening and it serves to classify objects and events. To name is to classify or to categorise. We discuss here our empirical work on how young children learn to name objects and events, particularly on the necessary and sufficient conditions for the establishment of naming repertoires. In a series of studies, infants aged between 9-16 months were trained (i) to select particular objects in response to vocalisations produced by the experimenter (Listener Behaviour) (ii) to echo the experimenter's vocalisations in the absence of the objects (Echoic Behaviour) and (iii) to echo the experimenter's vocalisations in the presence of the objects. According to Horne and Lowe (1996), Conditions (i) and (ii), either singly or combined, may not be sufficient to establish naming in young pre-verbal infants. They propose that, in addition to listener behaviour, the child must also learn to echo the corresponding tact (speaker) component of the name relation, which is achieved by reinforcing the child's echoing in the presence of the object, that is, Condition (iii). The results from these studies provide strong support for Horne and Lowe's account. Keywords:naming, verbal behaviour, listener behaviour, echoic, tact |
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