This study examines whether language-specific input influences children's
nonlinguistic spatial cognition as they acquire their first language. Recent
research on infant cognition has shown that preverbal infants can make a distinction
between tight-fit and loose-fit containment relations. This distinction is
systematically made in Korean (kkita‘fit tightly’), but
not in English (in). Using a preferential-looking method, this study tested
sensitivity to the distinction in English and Korean learners at different ages:
English learners were tested at 18, 24, 29 and 36 months, and Korean learners at 29
and 36 months of age. Results showed that while English learners weaken their
sensitivity to the distinction by 29 months of age, Korean learners maintain high
sensitivity to the distinction throughout the age periods tested. Language surveys
of the English learners indicate that weakening of the sensitivity occurs as the
children use the relevant spatial terms and increase their vocabulary level.
Baillargeon, R.
(1995). A model of physical reasoning in infancy.
In
C. Rovee-Collier
&
L. P. Lipsitt
(Eds), Advances in infancy research, 9 (pp.
305–371) (
London: Ablex
).
2.
Baillargeon, R.
(2000). How do infants learn about the physical
world? In
D. Muir
&
A. Slater
(Eds), Infant development: The essential readings (pp.
193–212).
Oxford: Blackwell
.
3.
Behl-Chadha, G.
&
Eimas, P. D.
(1995).
Infant categorization of left-right spatial relations
. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 13,
69–79
.
4.
Berlin, B.
&
Kay, P.
(1969). Basic color terms: Their universality and
evolution.
Berkeley: University of California Press
.
5.
Bierwisch, M.
(1967).
Some semantic universals of German adjectivals
.Foundations of Language, 5,
153–184
.
6.
Bowerman, M.
(1996). Learning how to structure space for language: A
crosslinguistic perspective. In
P. Bloom
,
M. Peterson
,
L. Nadel
&
M. Garrett
(Eds), Language and space (pp.
385–486).
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
7.
Bowerman, M.
&
Choi, S.
(1994, January).
Linguistic and nonlinguistic determinants of spatial semantic development:
A crosslinguistic study of English, Korean, and Dutch
. Paper presented at Boston University Conference on Language Development.
8.
Bowerman, M.
&
Choi, S.
(2001). Shaping meanings for language: Universal and
language-specific in the acquisition of spatial semantic categories. In
M. Bowerman
&
S. C. Levinson
(Eds), Language acquisition and conceptual development (pp.
475–511).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
.
9.
Bowerman, M.
,
de Leon, J.
&
Choi, S.
(1995). Verbs, particles, and spatial semantics: Learning
to talk about spatial actions in typologically different languages.
In Proceedings of the 27th Child Language Research Forum (p.
101–110).
Stanford: CSLI
.
10.
Bowerman, M.
&
Pederson, E.
(1992, December).
Cross-linguistic perspectives on topological spatial relationships
. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American
Anthropological Association, San Francisco.
11.
Brown, P.
(1994).
The INs and ONs of Tzeltal locative expressions: The semantics of static
descriptions of location
. Linguistics, 32,
743–790
.
12.
Choi, S.
&
Bowerman, M.
(1991).
Learning to express motion events in English and Korean: The influence of
language-specific lexicalization patterns
. Cognition, 41,
83–121
.
13.
Choi, S.
&
Gopnik, A.
(1995).
Early acquisition of verbs in Korean: A cross-linguistic study
. Journal of Child Language, 22,
497–331
.
14.
Choi, S.
,
McDonough, L.
,
Bowerman, M.
&
Mandler, J.
(1999).
Early sensitivity to language-specific spatial categories in English and Korean
. Cognitive Development, 14,
241–268
.
15.
Chomsky, N.
(1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
16.
Clark, E.
(1973).
Non-linguistic strategies and the acquisition of word meanings
. Cognition, 2,
161–182
.
17.
Clark, H. H.
(1973). Space, time, semantics, and the child. In
T. E. Moore
(Ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language (pp.
27-63).
New York: Academic Press
.
18.
Gopnik, A.
&
Meltzoff, A.
(1986).
Relation between semantic and cognitive development in the one-word stage:
The specificity hypothesis
. Child Development, 57,
1040–1053
.
19.
Gopnik, A.
&
Meltzoff, A.
(1993). Words and thoughts in infancy: The specificity
hypothesis and the development of categorization and naming. In
C. Rovee-Collier
&
L. P. Lipsitt
(Eds), Advances in infancy research, Vol. 8 (pp.
218–249).
Norwood, NJ: Ablex
.
20.
Hespos, S.
&
Spelke, E.
(2002). Conceptual development in infancy: The case of
containment. In
N. Stein
,
P. Bauer
&
M. Rabinowitz
(Eds), Representation, memory, and development: Essays in honor of Jean
Mandler (pp. 223–246).
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
.
21.
Hirsh-Pasek, K.
&
Golinkoff, R. M.
(Eds) (1996). The origins of grammar: Evidence from early
language comprehension.
Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press
.
22.
Hollich, G.
,
Rocroi, C.
,
Hirsh-Pasek, K.
&
Golinkoff, R.
(1999).
Testing language comprehension in infants: Introducing the split-screen
preferential looking paradigm
. Presented at the Society for Research in Child
Development, Albuquerque, NM.
23.
Kuhl, K.
,
Kiritani, S.
,
Deguchi, T.
,
Hayashi, A.
,
Stevens, E.
,
Dugger, C.
&
Iverson, P.
(1997).
Effects of language experience of speech perception: American and Japanese
infants’ percetion of /ra/ and /la/
. Poster presented at the 134th Annual Meeting of the Journal of
the Acoustic Society of America.
24.
Levinson, S. C.
(1996). Frames of reference and Molyneux's
question: Cross-linguistic evidence. In
P. Bloom
,
M. Peterson
,
L. Nadel
&
M. Garrett
(Eds), Language and space (pp.
109–169).
Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press
.
25.
Levinson, S. C.
,
Kita, S.
,
Haun, D.
&
Rasch, B.
(2002).
Returning the tables: Language affects spatial reasoning
. Cognition, 84,
155–188
.
26.
Li, P.
&
Gleitman, L.
(2002).
Turning the tables: Language and spatial reasoning
. Cognition, 83,
265–294
.
27.
Lucy, J.
(1992). Grammatical categories and cognition: A case study of
the linguistic relativity hypothesis.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
.
28.
McDonough, L.
,
Choi, S.
&
Mandler, J.
(2003).
Understanding spatial relations: Flexible infants, lexical adults
. Cognitive Psychology, 46,
229–259
.
29.
Miller, G.
&
Johnson-Laird, P. N.
(1976). Language and perception.
Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press
.
30.
Naigles, L.
(1990).
Children use syntax to learn verb meanings
. Journal of Child Language, 17,
357–374
.
31.
Pederson, E.
,
Danziger, E.
,
Levinson, S.
,
Kita, S.
,
Senft, G.
&
Wilkins, D.
(1998).
Semantic typology and spatial conceptualization
. Language, 74,
557–589
.
32.
Piaget, J.
(1954) The construction of reality in the child.
New York: Basic Books
.
33.
Piaget, J.
&
Inhelder, B.
(1967). The child's conception of space.
New York: W. W. Norton
.
34.
Quinn, P. C.
(1994).
The categorization of above and below spatial relations by young infants
. Child Development, 65,
58–69
.
35.
Quinn, P. C.
,
Adams, A.
,
Kennedy, E.
,
Shettler, L.
&
Wasnik, A.
(2003).
Development of an abstract category representation for the spatial relation
‘between’ in 6- to 10-month-old infants
. Developmental Psychology, 39,
151–163
.
36.
Slobin, D. I.
(1973). Cognitive prerequisites for the development of
grammar. In
C. A. Ferguson
&
D. I. Slobin
(Eds), Studies of child language development (pp.
175–208).
New York: Holt, Rinehard & Winston
.
37.
Slobin, D. I.
(1985). Crosslinguistic evidence for the language-making
capacity. In
D. I. Slobin
(Ed.), The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition, Vol. 2:
Theoretical Issues (pp. 1157–1256).
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
.
38.
Slobin, D. I.
(1996). Learning to think for speaking: Native language,
cognition, and rhetorical style. In
J. J. Gumperz
&
S. C. Levinson
(Eds), Rethinking linguistic relativity.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
.
39.
Smith, L.
(1999). Children's noun learning: How general
learning processes make specialized learning mechanisms. In
B. MacWhinney
(Ed.), The emergence of language.
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
.
40.
Talmy, L.
(1975). Semantics and syntax of motion. In
J. Kimball
(Ed.), Syntax and semantics (pp.
181–238).
New York: Academic Press
.
41.
Talmy, L.
(1985). Lexicalization patterns: Semantic structure in
lexical forms. In
T. Shopen
(Ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, Vol. III:
Grammatical categories and the lexicon (pp.
57–149).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
.
42.
Traugott, E.
(1978). On the expression of spatio-temporal relations in
language. In
J. H. Greenberg
(Ed.), Universals of human language, Vol.3: Word structure.
Stanford: Stanford University Press
.
43.
Werker, J.
&
Lalonde, C.
(1988).
Cross-language speech perception: Initial capabilities and developmental change
. Experimental Psychology, 24,
672–683
.
44.
Werker, J.
&
Tees, R.
(1984).
Cross-language speech perception: Evidence for perceptual reorganization
during the first year of life
. Infant Behavior and Development, 7,
49–63
.
45.
Whorf, B. L.
(1956). Language, thought, and reality: Selected writings of
Benjamin Lee Whorf (
J. B. Carroll
, Ed.).
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
46.
Yoshida, H.
&
Smith, L.
(2003).
Known and novel noun extensions: Attention at two levels of abstractions
. Child Development, 74,
564–577
.
