Fast-Mapping Placeholders: Using Words to Talk About Kinds

Fast-mapping is the ability to acquire a word rapidly on the basis of minimal information. As proposed by Carey (1978), we assume that children are able to achieve fast-mapping because their initial word meanings are skeletal placeholders that will be extended gradually over time. In this paper, we propose that a notion of “kind” is fundamental to children's initial mappings for object labels. We illustrate this point by considering the acquisition of generic noun phrases, which are understood by children as kind-referring from very early on. We argue that the acquisition of generics has implications for mechanisms of word learning. Evidence suggests that generics cannot be acquired solely on the basis of associative learning mechanisms; rather, they are a default interpretation for young children.