In the context of infants, briefly explain overextension.

Answers will vary. Young children try to talk about more objects than they have words for. To accomplish their linguistic feats, children often extend the meaning of one word to refer to things and actions for which they do not have words. This process is called overextension. Eve Clark studied diaries of infants' language development and found that overextensions are generally based on perceived similarities in function or form between the original object or action and the new one. She provides the example of the word mooi, which one child originally used to designate the moon. The child then overextended mooi to designate all round objects, including the letter o and cookies and cakes. Overextensions gradually pull back to their proper references as the child's vocabulary and ability to classify objects develop.