Lexical contrast constraint is the notion that young children make inferences about word meanings by contrasting new words with words they already know.
The lexical contrast constraint is a concept in the field of psychology that refers to the idea that the meaning of a word is determined in part by the contrast between that word and other words in a person's language. According to this theory, the meaning of a word is not determined solely by its own internal characteristics, but also by how it is different from other words in the language.
For example, the word "big" has a meaning that is partially determined by the contrast between "big" and "small." If the word "big" did not exist, or if it meant the same thing as "small," it would be difficult for speakers of a language to convey the concept of size. Similarly, the word "happy" has a meaning that is partially determined by the contrast between "happy" and "sad," and the word "hot" has a meaning that is partially determined by the contrast between "hot" and "cold."
The lexical contrast constraint is an important consideration in the study of language and cognition, and it can have implications for how people understand and use words in different contexts.