Does the children ^,s prior knowledge of the lexical items influence the provision of semantic
justifications ?

• No significant differences were found.

Is the provision of semantic justifications influenced by the semantic domain of the lexical
items?

• The children provided more “semantic” justifications for the words describing
artifacts than the words describing animals. The differences were found significant
for post test 1. Significant differences were also found for the Definition group,
during post tests 1 and 2.

Thematic Justifications

Is there a differential impact of the type of exposure to new lexical items that the children
receive on their provision of thematic justifications?

• During post test 3 the Phonological control group provided significantly more
“thematic” justifications than the Lexical contrast and Definition groups.

Do children ^,s provision of thematic justifications increase with increased exposure to the
lexical items?

• No significant differences were found over time.

Does the children ^,s prior knowledge of the lexical items influence the provision of thematic
justifications?

• The children during post tests 2 and 3 provided significantly more “thematic”
justifications for the partially represented words than the unknown words. The same
pattern was found for each group, however, significant differences were only found
for the Ostensive definition group during post test 3.

Is the provision of thematic justifications influenced by the semantic domain of the lexical
items?

• The children provided more “thematic” justifications for the words describing
artifacts than the words describing animals. The differences were found to be

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