Why is a moon a ball? : overextensions in young Maltese children

Abstract

The acquisition of vocabulary by young children has been the focus of studies for many years now. This study focused on children's use of overextensions while in the process of acquiring vocabulary. The main aim of this study, apart from analysing the use of overextensions per se, was to find out what factors determine children to make more or less use of this phenomenon. The children were of both genders, of different age groups and of a different background. This research aimed at answering questions such as: Is there any difference between the younger and the older children? Did the children whose parents both work use overextensions more or less than the ones who have at least one parent who does not work? Did the girls' performance differ from that of boys? Do children overextend more in production than in comprehension? The researcher conducted fieldwork by first recording the participants and then analysing those same recordings. The general findings proved the researcher's initial hypothesis: the non-linguistic variables which were analysed, (even if some more than others), do seem to influence the use of overextensions in one way or another.