Understanding Language Development
理解语言的发展
译
Most children go through different stages as they learn to speak， some so fleeting that parents are not always aware of them. But these brief windows can reveal important insights into the process of word retrieval.
在学习说话时，大多数儿童有不同阶段，有些阶段比较短暂，以至于家长都没有意识到。但这些简短的窗口可以显示孩子词汇学习进程中的重要见解。
For example， early in development， children often build their word bank slowly. Then， at about 18 to 20 months of age， they have a sudden brief vocabulary spurt， where many words are learned， and used， speedily.
例如，在发展初期，儿童往往缓慢地建立自己的单词库。然后，在约18至20个月的年龄，他们有一个很突然而又简短的词汇冲刺，孩子可以迅速地学习和使用很多单词。
"They go from slow laborious learning， one word at a time， to a sudden rapid production，" said Lisa Gershkoff-Stowe associate professor in the Speech and Hearing Sciences Department and Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University， and director of its Baby Language Lab. "They learn a word and begin to use it productively right away. What is happening there?"
美国印第安纳大学言语及听觉科学系和认知科学计划的副教授，婴儿语言实验室主任丽莎说：“他们经历了从缓慢费力地学习，一次一个字，到以突然快速地学习的过程。他们学会一个字，然后开始正确而有效的使用它。这究竟是什么回事？”
This is one of several important questions that Gershkoff-Stowe is trying answer in a series of five studies she is conducting on young children， trying to understand how they become efficient speakers of language. Her work is funded by a National Science Foundation grant of $467，071 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
这只是丽莎试图解决的几个重要问题之一，在她对青少年儿童展开的5项研究中，试图了解他们是如何成为语言高效的说话者。她的工作经费由美国国家科学基金会投资467071美元，并作为2009年美国复苏与再投资法案的一部分。
The scientists'' goal is to bridge the knowledge gap between children and adults in the development of language. "We don''t know why some children have word-finding problems or how best to treat them，" Gershkoff-Stowe said.
科学家的目标是缩小语言发展中儿童和成人之间的语言知识差距。 “我们不知道为什么有些孩子有文字发现问题，也不知道该如何最好地对待他们，”丽莎说。
Although the research is basic in nature， "hopefully people will ultimately take what we uncover and apply it in a therapeutic setting，" Gershkoff-Stowe said. "This may not only help children. This also eventually may help the elderly，" she added.
尽管此次调查的性质是最基本的，“希望人们最终会接受我们所发现的，并在治疗中得到运用，这不仅可以帮助孩子，也最终可能帮助老人。”她补充说。
Gershkoff-Stowe and her colleagues are particularly interested in learning more about the relationship between word comprehension and usage: why there are gaps between what children know， and what they say.
丽莎和她的同事们特别感兴趣的是了解单词的理解和用法之间的关系：为什么孩子所知道的和他们所说的之间有差距？
"What accounts for the fact that kids don''t use the words they know?" she said. "It''s a big mystery to me. And it''s not just in kids， you find this even in adults. I don''t think it is a memory or cognitive issue. I think it''s a processing issue in how we access words in terms of comprehension and production. For example， you show them pictures of objects and say: ''where is the pillow?'' They can point to it， but if you say: ''what''s this?'' They don''t know the word. They can''t retrieve the words that they know."
“到底是什么导致孩子不用他们所知道的词汇？”她说。“对我来说，这是一个很大的谜。不只是孩子这样，成年人也是如此。我不认为这是一个记忆或认知问题，相反，从对词汇的理解和产出方面讲，这是词汇存取的问题。例如，你向孩子们展示图片，说：“枕头在哪里？”他们可以指向它，但如果你说：“这是什么？”他们不知道这个词，他们无法从已知中找到这个单词。”
During the early brief period of rapid word development， for example， children also often experience a temporary and perplexing disturbance in their word retrieval， which disappears after only a few weeks.
在早期词汇快速发展的短期，例如，在词汇检索方面，儿童经常经历暂时的困扰，几个星期后困惑消失。
It is one of the phenomena under study.
它是该研究中的现象之一。
"Children make errors that involve repeating a word incorrectly after it''s been used correctly，" Gershkoff-Stowe said. "For example， a child looks at a picture of a dog and the mother says: ''What''s that?'' The child says: ''Dog.'' Then she turns the page， and there''s a picture of a shoe on the next page， and the child says: ''Dog.'' We know the child knows the word ''shoe'' because she''s read the book before， so what is causing this?
丽莎说，在正确使用一个单词以后，孩子却在重复使用中犯了错误。例如，一个孩子看着一只狗的图片，妈妈说：：“这是什么？”孩子说：“狗”。然后她翻页，在下一页是鞋的'图片，可孩子却说是狗。我们知道这个孩子知道“鞋”这个词，因为她之前读过这本书，所以究竟是什么造成这个错误呢？
"During the vocabulary spurt， the child is acquiring many words at a rapid rate， and the child is beginning to name objects in rapid succession; whereas， prior to this vocabulary spurt， it would have take much more time，" she continued. "The store of words in the child''s memory is becoming more dense， more crowded. So the opportunity for error exists. What''s causing it? "
丽莎说，在词汇冲刺中，孩子是在快速地习得了很多词汇，也开始快速地辨认事物的名字。而在这个词汇冲刺之前，就必须花费大量时间。词汇的存储在孩子的记忆中变得更加致密，更加拥挤。因此，错误的可能性是存在的。这是什么造成的？
When attempting to name an object， "you activate the word in your memory，" Gershkoff-Stowe said. "In order to go on to a new word， you have to deactivate the previously-said word. That function is not as well developed at that age."
当试图命名对象时，“你在记忆中激活单词，为了继续学习新词，你必须停用先前所说的词。而在那个年龄阶段，这个功能并没有很好的发展。”丽莎解释说。
Inexplicably， these errors decrease quickly， and significantly， after just a few weeks.
令人费解的，这些错误迅速下降，几周后特别显著。
"Individual words somehow become more robust and can withstand interference from another word that needs to be activated，" she said. "''Dog'' is an early acquired word. ''Shoe'' is a later acquired word. ''Dog'' is more robust. There is competition between ''shoe'' and ''dog.'' As ''shoe'' becomes more robust， it can withstand the interference from ''dog.'' All of this takes a millisecond."
她说，个别字句也变得更加稳健，可以不受干扰，即使在其他词汇需要激活的情况下。“狗”是早期识得的词，“鞋”是稍后学习的，所以“狗”字更牢固。在“狗”和“鞋”之间是有竞争关系的。当“鞋”变得更加强大，它可以承受“狗”的干扰，所有这一切都只需要一毫秒。
The series of five studies will include children as young as two， and as old as eight. Three of the studies will involve children considered typical; two will compare typical children to those identified as having word retrieval problems.
这五个系列研究将包括2岁之8岁的孩子。其中3个研究将涉及典型的儿童，另外2个研究将对典型的儿童和已确定的有词汇检索问题的孩子作比较。
The researchers will study the youngest children to try to understand the relationship between word comprehension and word production over time. The second--conducted in three-and one-half and four-year-olds--will examine word competition. "It will be the ''opposite game.'' We''ll show children pictures of objects and ask them to say the opposite word，" Gershkoff-Stowe said.
研究人员将长期研究最小的孩子，了解他们单词的理解和产出之间的关系。第二次研究，在他们三岁半至4岁，将考察他们单词竞争。丽莎说，这将是相反的游戏。我们向孩子展示图片，请他们说出相反的词。
A third， in three and-one-half to five-year-olds， will study "flexible" naming. "We will show them familiar objects with more than one name， for example， a spoon in the shape of an airplane，" she said. "I say; ''what is this?'' and kids generally say ''airplane.'' I say: ''what else is this?'' If they have a hard time， they will repeat the same word: airplane.
第三次研究，在3岁半至5岁儿童中，将研究灵活性命名。 她说：“我们会给他们看一些相似的物体，不止一个名字。例如，飞机形状的勺子。 我说“这是什么？”孩子一般都说是飞机。我问他们它还是什么？他们会很艰难的想，然后重复同一个词：飞机。
" We mimic the function; we pretend to be eating with a spoon，" she continued. "Five-year-olds have no problem. Three-and-a-half year olds have huge problems. It''s not that they don''t have the words in their vocabulary; they just can''t produce another name once they''ve already named it.
她又说，“我们模拟物品的功能，我们假装用勺子吃。对五岁的孩子来说是没有困难，可三岁半的孩子就有很大的问题。这并不是说他们不知道这个词汇，他们只是不能说出另一个名字，虽然是他们曾经已经命名过的东西。
Another study， comparing typical children to those with word retrieval issues， will look at the "tip-of-the-tongue" phenomenon in five-to-eight year-olds.
另一项研究中，比较典型的孩子与那些有识字问题的孩子，将研究5至8岁的孩子的“舌尖现象”。
The final study， also comparing the two groups of children， will examine how youngsters organize words semantically， for example， showing them different categories of words--knife， fork and spoon--and having them say each word， followed by showing them pictures associated with one of the words， such as spoon: soup， salt， then spoon. "When something is semantically related， does it facilitate retrieval or inhibit it，" she said. "How does this affect retrieval? It will tell us something about the organization of words related to meaning."
最后的一项研究也是比较两组孩子，将会考察孩子是如何从语义上组词，例如，给他们展示了不同类别的词 —刀，叉，勺 ，让他们分别组词，然后给他们展示与词相关的图片，如汤匙：汤，盐，然后勺。她说：“当他们语义相关时，是有助于检索或是阻碍检索？这又是怎样影响检索？它将会告诉我们有关组词与词义的信息。
The researchers know quite a bit about how adults process words， "but very little about developmental phenomena， " Gershkoff-Stowe said. With these studies， "we want to get the picture developmentally."
丽莎认为，研究人员对成年人如何处理词汇了解的很多，但是对该现象的发展却知之甚少。有了这些研究，我们希望得到该发展的描述信息。
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