A developmental shift from similar to language-specific strategies in verb acquisition: A comparison of English, Spanish, and Japanese

• Published in: Cognition Vol. 114; no. 3; pp. 299 - 319
• Main Authors: Maguire, Mandy J., Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy, Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick, Imai, Mutsumi, Haryu, Etsuko, Vanegas, Sandra, Okada, Hiroyuki, Pulverman, Rachel, Sanchez-Davis, Brenda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-03-2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adults; Age Factors; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Development; Child Language; Child, Preschool; Cognitive Development; Comparative linguistics; Contrastive Linguistics; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Developmental psychology; Developmental Stages; English; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Japan; Japanese; Language Acquisition; Language Development; Language Patterns; Language typology; Learning; Linguistic Input; Male; Meaning; Preferences; Preschool Children; Preschoolers; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Spain; Spanish; Toddlers; Typology; United States; Verb learning; Verbal Learning; Verbs; Vocabulary; United States; Japan; Spain; Preschoolers; Language typology; Adults; Toddlers; Language acquisition; Verb learning; Human; Preschool age; Cross linguistic study; Cognition; Experimental study; Japanese; Learning; English; Acquisition process; Language; Verb; Language development; Adult; Strategy; Spanish; Typology; Child; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0010-0277; 1873-7838
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2009.10.002

The world’s languages draw on a common set of event components for their verb systems. Yet, these components are differentially distributed across languages. At what age do children begin to use language-specific patterns to narrow possible verb meanings? English-, Japanese-, and Spanish-speaking adults, toddlers, and preschoolers were shown videos of an animated star performing a novel manner along a novel path paired with a language-appropriate nonsense verb. They were then asked to extend that verb to either the same manner or the same path as in training. Across languages, toddlers (2- and 2.5-year-olds) revealed a significant preference for interpreting the verb as a path verb. In preschool (3- and 5-year-olds) and adulthood, the participants displayed language-specific patterns of verb construal. These findings illuminate the way in which verb construal comes to reflect the properties of the input language.