The first talk of 2011 in the CDC seminar series will be given by:<br><br>Sandra Waxman, Northwestern University<br>Date: MONDAY, January 17, 5 PM<br>Cognitive Development Center, Hattyú u. 14, 3rd floor<br><br><b><em>EARLY WORD LEARNING: LINKING INFANTS&#39; LINGUISTIC AND CONCEPTUAL ADVANCES <br>
</em></b><br>Abstract: Word learning stands at the cross-road between linguistic and conceptual
 organization. To learn the meaning of a word, infants must set their 
sights in two distinct directions. Facing the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">conceptual domain</span>, they must form core <span style="text-decoration: underline;">concepts</span> to capture the various relations among the objects and events that they encounter. Facing the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">linguistic domain</span>, they must cull <span style="text-decoration: underline;">words</span> and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">phrases</span>
 from the melody of the human language in which they are immersed. 
Decades of research have revealed that even before they begin to speak, 
infants’ advances in each of these domains are powerfully linked. I will
 review this evidence, focusing first on infants on the threshold of 
word learning and then moving on present new evidence from infants as 
young as 3- and 4-months of age.