CHILD DEVELOPMENT PEDAGOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Underextension occurs when the child uses the word ball in reference to only their specific individual ball and not use it as a term for all balls. Another example would be a child using the word cat for only their family’s lone pet cat instead of using it to apply to all cats.

Detailed explanation-2: -n. the incorrect restriction of the use of a word, which is a mistake commonly made by young children acquiring language. For example, a child may believe that the label dog applies only to Fido, the family pet.

Detailed explanation-3: -Example of underextension: Kitty might mean the family cat, but not other cats. Underextensions may occur because a general word (like kitty) is almost taken as a name, not as a word. It could also be related to the prototype concept of word meaning.

Detailed explanation-4: -On the other hand, sometimes kids engage in underextension, meaning that they use a general word to mean one very specific thing. For example, “baba” may mean MY bottle and my bottle only, and “soozies” may mean MY shoes and no one else’s.

Detailed explanation-5: -underextension (countable and uncountable, plural underextensions) (linguistics) Application of a term to too few referents, as for example when a child uses cat to refer only to the family pet.