'Now you're speaking my language!' Children's use of speaker characteristics during word learning

Children are accomplished word learners who rely on several cognitive biases to learn words easily. One such bias is attention to speaker characteristics such as language and knowledge. The present study examined the effect of speaker knowledge and speaker language on word learning. More specifically, the present study investigated children's willingness to learn words from inaccurate speakers and foreign language speakers. English speaking 3- and 4-year-olds were shown a video in which an English speaker and a Spanish speaker labeled 4 familiar objects and 4 novel objects. In the English Speaker Accurate conditions, the English speaker labeled the familiar objects accurately and the Spanish speaker labeled them inaccurately. In the Spanish Speaker Accurate conditions, the speakers' accuracy was reversed. In the Accuracy Emphasis conditions, the experimenter emphasized speaker accuracy during the familiar object trials. In the No Emphasis conditions, no such emphasis was given. After each novel object labeling, children were asked what they thought the object was called. Children in the English Speaker Accurate conditions were more likely to choose the English speaker's labels than the Spanish speaker's labels. This finding was reversed in the Spanish Speaker Accurate conditions. There was no significant difference between children in the Emphasis conditions and children in the No Emphasis conditions. These results are discussed in the context of how children apply social cues when learning words.