CHILD DEVELOPMENT PEDAGOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -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.

Detailed explanation-2: -Underextension: This is a common semantic error made by children. It occurs when a word is given a narrower meaning that it has in adult language. E.g. Only use the word ‘dog’ for the family dog, not any other dogs. Overextension: This is the opposite of underextension and is also a feature of child’s early language.

Detailed explanation-3: -Overextension occurs when a categorical term (a word used to describe a group of things) is used in language to represent more categories than it actually does. This happens in particular with very young children. An example is when a child refers to all animals as ‘doggie’ or refers to a lion as a ‘kitty.

Detailed explanation-4: -Underextension is a common semantic error made by children. It happens during the early stages of language development around the age of 18 months. It occurs when a child gives certain words narrower meanings than they have in adult language.

Detailed explanation-5: -Young children often extend known words to referents outside their vocabulary, a phenomenon known as overextension (Clark, 1978). For example, children might extend dog to refer to a squirrel, ball to refer to a balloon, or key to refer to a door.