Gloves are hands: How English and Italian children label nouns and predicates at 24 and 30 Months in a picture-naming task

Purpose: This study investigates the semantic processes underlying how children acquire and use nouns and predicates (verbs, adjectives/adverbs), focusing on age and cross-linguistic differences in these naming strategies. Method: Ninety-two children aged 23–25 months (53 English and 39 Italian) and 115 children aged 29–31 months (69 English and 46 Italian) took part in a picture-naming task to assess their acquisition of nouns and predicates. We investigated the types of responses (correct, incorrect, no response, and unintelligible) and the distribution of incorrect responses (semantic errors, visual errors, and other errors) across two ages and two languages. Results: Response accuracy increased significantly from 24 to 30 months for lexical categories and languages. At 30 months, children produced fewer no responses, incorrect responses, and unintelligible responses for nouns and fewer no responses for predicates. Italian children showed a higher frequency of unintelligible responses for nouns, while English children produced more no responses for predicates. The distribution of semantically incorrect responses also varied with age: Compared to 24-month-olds, 30-month-olds produced fewer semantic associative errors and onomatopoeic responses in nouns but more semantic coordinate errors for predicates. English children produced more semantic coordinate and subordinate errors in nouns and fewer semantic associative and onomatopoeic errors in predicates than Italian children. Conclusion: Data are discussed in the context of cross-linguistic comparisons of semantic representations underlying noun and predicate acquisition at 2–3 years.