published_or_final_version / English Studies / Master / Master of Arts

This dissertation sought to explore dimensions of preschooler conceptual awareness of the principles of counting. The study derived its focus from the research of Rochel Gelman and, in particular, the principles of counting she purports are implicitly understood by young children. Their frequent inability to manifest this awareness in their counting performances is explained as resulting from their susceptibility to task demands. This study explores this position by seeking to facilitate performance in order that conceptual understanding might be more apparent. The sample for this study consisted of 40 children (20 aged 3 years 3 months-3 years 9 months; 20 aged 4 years 3 months-4 years 9 months) selected randomly from a cross section of preschool and day-care centers in Adelaide, South Australia. Phase 1 of the study explored the impact of a procedure which allowed for children to receive both visual and tactile feedback on their counting behavior on array sizes ranging from 2 to 19. The results show conclusively that this self-monitoring technique significantly improved counting performances for both age groups. In doing so it lends support to the Gelman hypothesis that conceptual awareness of the 'how-to' count principles can be masked by task demands. Phase 2 of the study looked at the complex 'order-irrelevance' principle. The results suggest that preschoolers understand that items can be counted in any order before they appreciate that this has no impact on cardinal value. The extreme susceptibility of preschoolers to variations in task demands necessitates further exploration of design and analysis parameters.

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This thesis looks at conceptual combination, in particular it investigates how noun noun compounds are interpreted. Several themes run throughout the work. Real compounds (e.g. coat hanger, crab apple) are compared to novel ones (e.g. banjo cactus, zip violin). Also, compounds are examined in each of the possible permutations of artefacts (A) (e.g. coat, banjo) and natural kinds (N) (e.g. crab, cactus), (AA, AN, NA and NN).Experiments 1 - 4 examine noncompositionality in noun noun compounds. Possible sources of noncompositionality are investigated using both feature listing and feature rating tasks. Although some differences were found, results were similar between different types of compound, evidence of noncompositionality being found in each. The results also confirm that most of the meaning of a noun noim compound is derived from the second constituent (noun2).Experiments 5 and 6 look at two different types of compoimd interpretation - slot filling and property mapping. In experiment 5, slot filling is found to be the preferred interpretation type overall, but property mapping is more common in compounds composed of two natural kinds (NN). Experiment 6 examines possible factors influencing the choice between slot filling and property mapping interpretations. It was found that constituent similarity plays an important role, and also that this interacts with whether or not the constituents have important properties which clash. Experiment 7 looks at compound identification. Results suggest that the first constituent (nounl) may be critical in such tasks. Experiment 8 compares the importance of nounl and noun2 in determining the type of interpretation given to a compound. Neither position is found to be more influential than the other, although relational information does seem to be associated with specific nouns in each position. Throughout the thesis findings are related to current theories of conceptual combination, such as prototype models, the concept specialisation model and theories of compound interpretation by analogy.