1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Pragmatics
  4. Volume 11, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 11, Issue 2
  • ISSN 1018-2101
  • E-ISSN: 2406-4238
PDF

Abstract

The relation between language and cognition in child development is one of the oldest and most debated questions, which has recently come back to the forefront of several disciplines in the social sciences. The overview below examines several universalistic vs. relativistic approaches to this question, stemming both from traditional developmental theories and from more recent proposals in psycholinguistics that are illustrated by some findings concerning space in child language. Two main questions are raised for future research. First, substantial evidence is necessary concerning the potential impact of linguistic variation on cognitive development, including evidence that can provide ways of articulating precocious capacities in the pre-linguistic period and subsequent developments across a variety of child languages. Second, relating language and cognition also requires that we take into account both structural and functional determinants of child language within a model that can explain development at different levels of linguistic organization in the face of cross-linguistic diversity.

© 2001 International Pragmatics Association
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/prag.11.2.01hic
2001-01-01
2024-12-08

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/prag.11.2.01hic
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Berman, R.A. , & D.I. Slobin
    (1994) Different ways of relating events in narrative: A crosslinguistic developmental study. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Bloom, P
    (1996) Recent controversies in the study of language acquisition. In Morton Ann Gernsbacher (ed.), Handbook of Psycholinguistics. San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, pp. 741-779.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Bowerman, M
    (1989) Learning a semantic system: What role do cognitive pre-dispositions play?. In M.L. Rice , & R.L. Schiefelbusch (eds.), The teachability of language. Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks, pp. 133-69.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. (1996) The origins of children's spatial semantic categories: Cognitive vs. linguistic determinants. In J.J. Gumperz , & S.C. Levinson (eds.), Rethinking linguistic relativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 145-176.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Bowerman, M. , S. Choi
    & (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. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 475-511. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511620669.018
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511620669.018 [Google Scholar]
  6. Brown, R
    (1994) The Ins and Ons of Tzeltal locative expressions: The semantics of static descriptions of location. Linguistics32: 743-790. doi: 10.1515/ling.1994.32.4‑5.743
     https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1994.32.4-5.743 [Google Scholar]
  7. Choi, S. , & M. Bowerman
    (1991) Learning to express motion events in English and Korean: The influence of language-specific lexicalization patterns. Cognition41: 83-121. doi: 10.1016/0010‑0277(91)90033‑Z
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(91)90033-Z [Google Scholar]
  8. Chomsky, N
    (1981) Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Clark, H.H
    (1973) Space, time, semantics and the child. In T.E. Moore (ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language. New york: Academic Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Ehrich, V
    (1982) Discourse organization and sentence form in child language: How children describe rooms. Papers and reports on child language development21: 55-62.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Eisenberg, A.R. , E.T. Kako , M. Highter , & N. McGraw
    (1998) Speaking of motion: Verb use in English and Spanish. Language and Cognitive Processes 13.5: 521-549. doi: 10.1080/016909698386429
     https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/016909698386429 [Google Scholar]
  12. Fodor, F.J
    (1983) The modularity of mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Gumperz, J.J. , & S.C. Levinson
    (eds.) (1996) Rethinking linguistic relativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Hirsh-Pasek, K. , & R.M. Golinkoff
    (1996) The origins of grammar: Evidence from early language comprehension. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Hendriks, H
    (1993) Motion and location in narrative discourse: A crosslinguistic and developmental perspective. Doctoral dissertation, University of Leiden.
  16. Hickmann, M
    (1995) Discourse organization and the development of reference to person, space, and time. In P. Fletcher , & B. McWhinney (eds.), Handbook of child language. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp. 194-218.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. (1998a) On null subjects and other pronouns: Syntactic and pragmatic approaches. In N. Dittmar , & Z. Penner (eds.), Issues in the theory of language acquisition. Bern: Peter Lang, pp. 143-175.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. (1998b) Person, space, and information status in children's narratives: A crosslinguistic analysis. Studi Italiani di Linguistica Teorica e Applicata XXVII.1: 49-66.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. . (forthcoming) Person, time, and space in children's narratives: A crosslinguistic functional perspective to language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Hickmann, M. , H. Hendriks , & F. Roland
    (1998) Référence spatiale dans les récits d'enfants. Langue Française118: 104-126. doi: 10.3406/lfr.1998.6253
     https://doi.org/10.3406/lfr.1998.6253 [Google Scholar]
  21. Johnston, J.R. , & D.I. Slobin
    (1979) The development of locative expressions in English, Italian, Serbo-Croatian and Turkish. Journal of Child Language6: 529-45. doi: 10.1017/S030500090000252X
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S030500090000252X [Google Scholar]
  22. Karmiloff-Smith, A
    (1987) Function and process in comparing language and cognition. In M. Hickmann (ed.), Social and functional approaches to language and thought. Orlando, FL: Academic Press, pp. 185-202.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. (1992) Beyond modularity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Landau, B. , & D.S. Jackendoff
    (1990) Objects and places : Geometric and syntactic representations in early lexical learning. Cognitive Development5: 287-312. doi: 10.1016/0885‑2014(90)90019‑P
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0885-2014(90)90019-P [Google Scholar]
  25. Lécuyer, R. , A. Streri , & M-G. PLcheux
    (1996) Le développement cognitif du nourrisson. Paris: Nathan.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Levinson, S.C
    (1994) Vision, shape, and linguistic description: Tzeltal body-part terminology and object description. Linguistics32: 791-855.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. (1996) Relativity in spatial conception and desciption. In J.J. Gumperz & S.C. Levinson (eds.), Rethinking linguistic relativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 177-202.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. (1997) From outer to inner space: Linguistic categories and non-linguistic thinking. In J. Nuyts , & E. Pederson (eds.), Language and conceptualization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 13-45. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781139086677.002
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139086677.002 [Google Scholar]
  29. Lloyd, P
    (1991) Strategies in children’s route directions. Journal of Child Language18: 171-189. doi: 10.1017/S0305000900013349
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900013349 [Google Scholar]
  30. Lucy, J. , & J. Werstch
    (1987) Vygotsky and Whorf: A comparative analysis. In M. Hickmann (ed.), Social and functional approaches to language and thought. Orlando, FL: Academic Press, pp. 67-86.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. MacWhinney, B. , & E. Bates
    (eds.) (1989) The cross-linguistic study of sentence processing. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Piaget, J
    (1923) Le langage et la pensée chez l’enfant. Neuchâtel: Delachaux & Niestlé.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Piaget, J. , & B. Inhelder
    (1947) La représentation de l'espace chez l'enfant. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Slobin, D.I
    (1985) Cross-linguistic evidence for the language-making capacity. In D.I. Slobin (ed.), The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 1157-1257.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. (1991) Learning to think for speaking: Native language, cognition and rhetorical style. Pragmatics1: 7-25.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. (1996) Thinking for speaking. In J.J. Gumperz , & S.C. Levinson (eds.), Rethinking linguistic relativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 70-96.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Talmy, L
    (2000) Towards a cognitive semantics. Harvard, MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Van Geert, P
    (1985) In, on, under: An essay on the modularity of infant spatial competence. First Language6.16: 7-28. doi: 10.1177/014272378600601602
     https://doi.org/10.1177/014272378600601602 [Google Scholar]
  39. Vygotsky, L.S
    (1962) Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Wertsch, J
    (1981) The concept of activity in Soviet Psychology. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. (1985) Vygotsky and the social formation of mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Weissenborn, J
    (1986) Learning how to become an interlocutor: The verbal negotiation of common frames of reference and actions in dyads of 7-14 year-old children. In J. Cook-Gumperz , W. Corsaro & J. Streek (eds.), Children's world and children's language. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Whorf, B.L
    (1956) Language, thought and reality: Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/prag.11.2.01hic
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Child development; Function; Linguistic relativity; Space; Structure

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error