The aim of this research was to examine whether infants at the early stages
of lexical development were sensitive to the word-category linkage. In Exp
eriment 1, 16-to 19-month-old infants were requested to match a target with
either a basic-level or a thematic match, with or without a novel label. S
timuli were presented using the preferential looking paradigm. Infants in t
he Novel Label condition looked significantly longer at the basic-level mat
ch than infants in the No Label condition. In Experiment 2; infants were pr
esented with a target, followed by a basic-level match and a superordinate-
level match with or without a novel label. Again, infants in the Novel Labe
l condition looked significantly longer at the basic-level match than infan
ts in the No Label condition. Taken together, these findings indicate that
infants initially assume that novel words label basic-level categories and
thereby do honour the word-category linkage.