test 3 descriptive properties were used significantly more by the Definition and
Lexical contrast group than the Control and Phonological Control. In addition, the
Definition group used significantly more "descriptive'' properties than the Ostensive
definition group.

Does children ^,s provision of descriptive properties increase with increased exposure to the
lexical items ?

• The children provided significantly more descriptive properties over time. The same
pattern was found for each experimental group over time.

Does the children ^,s prior knowledge of the lexical items influence the provision of descriptive
properties ?

• All the children provided more "descriptive" properties for the partially represented
than for the unknown words. Significant differences were found for post test 2.

• Separate analysis for each group revealed the same pattern. Significant differences
were found for the Definition group during post test 2 and post test 3.

Is the provision of descriptive properties influenced by the semantic domain of the lexical
items?

• The children provided significantly more descriptive properties for the words
describing animals than for the words describing artifacts across testing.

• Separate analysis for each group demonstrated the same pattern. Significant
differences were found for the Ostensive definition group during post test 1, the
Lexical contrast group during post test 3 and the Definition group across testing.

Semantic properties-.

Is there a differential impact of the type of exposure to new lexical items that the children
receive on the provision of semantic properties?

• No significant differences were found for post test 1, while significant differences
were found for post test 2 and post test 3. Post hoc analysis of post test 2 revealed
that the Definition group used significantly more “semantic” properties than the other

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