You are in a foreign land and see a rabbit run by, and someone shouts, "Gavagai!" You would assume that gavagai means rabbit and not rabbit ears. This is known as the:
A) whole-object assumption.
B) taxonomic assumption.
C) mutual exclusivity assumption.
D) noun-bias assumption.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The whole-object assumption is a language acquisition principle where children assume that a new word refers to a whole object, rather than its parts, properties, actions, or other aspects. This explains why one would assume "gavagai" refers to the entire rabbit rather than just a part of it, like its ears.

You Are in a Foreign Land and See a Rabbit