Language-specific input, cross-cultural differences and spatial cognition: A case of 'support' relation (NSF)

Researchers:
Katharina J. Rohlfing, Soonja Choi (SDSU) and Marianella Casasola (Cornell University)
 

Background

Semantic development arises from a synergy of elements attributed to both the child and their experiences. For example, infants' categorization abilities contribute to semantic development by allowing young word learners to recognize new examples of a referent, even when provided with only a single example. Similarly, infants' own linguistic competence, in particular their knowledge of grammar, also begins to contribute to semantic development. In addition to the abilities the child brings to the task of semantic development, several studies have shown the importance of language-specific input in the development of lexical semantics and syntax in young children. More recently, research also has shown that cross-cultural differences in nonverbal behaviors contribute to cross-linguistic differences in young children's semantic development. These various results document how semantic development emerges from the interaction of child abilities and environmental inputs. This interaction is dynamic, evolving as children's abilities develop and environmental inputs change.
 

Research Questions

We propose to discover the precise nature of this interaction by examining the acquisition of language-specific spatial semantics, and in particular, those that encode support relations (e.g., placing a cup on a table, placing a ring on a pole) where there is much cross-linguistic variation. Specifically, we will examine the development of the semantic categories of support relations in children learning English, Korean, German, and Spanish, language groups which contrast in how they organize support into semantic categories.

• What is the nature of maternal input (about spatial relations) to infants and toddlers exposed to different languages, and how does this input change as children develop?
• How do infants‘ nonlinguistic spatial concepts relate to language-specific semantic categories?
• How do infants‘ grammatical knowledge of their language (at a given period) contribute to the development of spatial categories (nonlinguistic as well as semantic) of support?
• How does the development of nonlinguistic and semantic categories of support relations in children learning English, Korean, German and Spanish differ?

Methods

We explore the contribution of infants' cognitive and lexical abilities in forming semantic spatial categories in a naturalistic study and several experimental studies. In examining how environmental inputs may shape infants' acquisition of the semantic categories of support, we explore caregiver speech and nonverbal behavior about support spatial events in infants from each of the four language groups in two studies.

            

Publications

Rohlfing, K. J., Choi, S. & Casasola, M. (2010): Maternal spatial language to English-, Korean- and German-learning children and how it changes in the course of development: a longitudinal study. Paper presented at the Child Language Seminar, London, 24. – 25. June.

Fischer, S., Rohlfing, K. J., Casasola, M. (2010): Does ,vertical support‘ beong to the set of semantic primitives? Infants visual categorization of support relations at 10 months. Poster presented at the XVIIth Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies Baltimore, Maryland, 10. – 14. March. [pdf]

Casasola, M., Choi, S., Rohlfing, K. J., Fischer, S., Park, Y., Pyoun, J. & Downs, C. (2009): Cross-linguistic differences in English-, German-, and Korean-learning infants‘ categorization of Support relations. Poster presented at the 6th Biennial Meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, San Antonio, Texas, 16. – 17. October. [pdf]