Language Acquisition: Spatial Relationships with M' Bowerman and S' Choi

1
Language Acquisition Spatial Relationships(with
M. Bowerman and S. Choi)

• Cross-cultural disagreement in naming of spatial
  relationships in English, Dutch, and Korean
• Language acquisition is a case of a developmental
  process that unfolds in a universally similar
  fashion but with culturally specific results
  Korean babies learn Korean while Dutch babies
  learn Dutch.

2
Languages vary in classification of spatial
relations

• English the picture is on the wall, the mug is
  on the table, the ring is on my finger.
• Dutch the picture is aan the wall, the mug is op
  the table, the ring is om my finger.
• Data identification of spatial relationship when
  modeled (tops on containers, hats on dolls, legos
  apart, etc.)

3
Results

• Some universal features attended to by all
  languages (e.g., separation vs. joining).
• Strong linguistic differentiation from earliest
  ages.
• Key to figures
• D Dutch, E English, K Korean
• Relative size of letter represents relative age

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2.0-2.5
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2.5-3.0
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3.0-3.5
7
adults
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aggregates
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all