L1.Lecture 12. Language and cognition.
1. The cognitive prerequisite view.
Nonlinguistic cognitive concepts at children develop earlier than their
linguistic representation. Symbolic representation of objects in child's mind precedes
talking (object-permanence - Bates).
Spatial relations before temporal ones (linguistic representation of time is usually a
metaphorical derivation from adverbs and prepositions denoting location). The order
of acquisition of such cognitive domains should, then, be universal. Thus, spatial
prepositions are acquired in a predictable order: in/on before under (Johnston &
Slobin 1979). However, Turkish children start to produce spatial functors much earlier
than Serbo-Croatian children ( due to linguistic complexity of Serbo-Croatian - Slobin
1982). A gap between cognitive & linguistic development ( waiting room).
Language Making Capacity = cognitive capacity + individual strategies:
children pay attention to the particular types of events & look for the grammatical
means to express them. Manipulative Activity Scenes. Universal cognitive notions +
corresponded grammaticized forms = Basic Child Grammar.
Slobin 1985: Language -specific patterns may have a Whorfian effect on the
organization of Semantic Space.
Slobin &Berman 199
Piaget (1962). 1962. The role of imitation in the development of representational
thought. Evolution Psychiatrique, 27.
Bates, E. 1979. The emergence of symbols: cognition and communication in
infancy. N.Y. Acad.
Slobin, D. I. 1973. Cognitive prerequisites for the acquisition of grammar. In:
Ferguson, C.A. & Slobin, D. I. (Eds.) Studies in child language development. N.Y.
: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Johnston & Slobin. 1979. The development of locative expressions in English,
Italian, Serbo-Croatian & Turkish. JCL, 16.
Slobin, D. I. 1982. Universal and particular in language acquisition. In: Wanner &
Gleitman (Eds.) Language acquisition: the state of the art. N.Y. CUP
Slobin D.I. 1985. Cross-linguistic evidence for the LMC. In: CLSLA V.2.
2. The language prerequisite view.
arrogant - anmassend, dünkelhaft, eingebildet, hochnasig ( Wahrig).
Whorf : the world categorization depends on the language.
More universal concepts appear in more languages and are early in the child
language (basic colour terms).
language specific grammatical and lexical notions influence the child from the very
beginning. Nominative-accusative languages (Kendall brake = mommy come)
ergative languages - different constructions for agents of caused motion and
subjects of self-movement. (Bowerman)
Path or Motion:
John came into the room.
Motion Path
entro caminando
Path Motion
Korean :
John run enter come.
In Korean there is twice as much verb tokens in the speech of caregivers than in Eng;
but in English there are about twice as much types and tokens of nouns.
Bowerman, M. 1995. Learning how to structure space for language: a cross-linguistic
perspective. In: Bloom, Peterson, Nadel & Garett . Language and space.
Choi, S. & Bowerman, M. 1991. Learning to express Motion events in English &
Korean. Cognition, 41.
Whorf, B.L. 1956. Language, thought and reality. In: Selected writings of
Benjamin Lee Whorf (J.B. Carrol - ed.) Ca: MIT.
Berlin, Brent & Kay, Paul. 1969. Basic Colour Terms. Their Universality and
Evolution. University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles. 3. Verbs & nouns in the early lexicon .
Lexical spurt is usually connected with big amount of nouns acquired (naming
explosion). Problem: what do we call nouns and verbs and from what stage?
Tardif - children speaking Mandarin Chinese use to have a higher % of verbs in their
early lexicon.
Same in Korean: first 50 words and several first sessions cumulatively.
Choi, S. 1997. Language-specific input & early semantic development. CLSLA V.5.