Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T22:31:57.514Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cognitive bases of lexical development: object permanence and relational words*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Michael Tomasello  and
Michael Jeffrey Farrar
Michael Tomasello
Affiliation:
Emory University
Michael Jeffrey Farrar
Affiliation:
Emory University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The hypothesis that there is a close relationship between object permanence and early language acquisition has not been supported by most previous research. McCune-Nicolich (1981), however, performed a detailed theoretical analysis and, as a result, found a close relationship between stage 6 object permanence development and the use of relational words. Unlike previous studies which used mostly quantitative measures of language, McCune-Nicolich related object permanence to the semantic content of the child's early words. She concluded that relational words enter the child's lexicon ‘as a group’ during stage 6, due in part to the development of the cognitive abilities of that stage. The current study attempts to make this claim more specific and consequently more accurate. Relational words requiring the conceptualization of the visible displacement of objects should emerge during stage 5, those involving invisible displacements during stage 6, and those referring to more complex spatial displacements only later during the pre-operational period. Data from a longitudinal study of six 1-year-olds corroborate this more specific account.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , October 1984 , pp. 477 - 493
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bates, E. (1979). The emergence of symbols: cognition and communication in infancy. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bloom, L. (1973). One word at a time. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Bohannon, J. & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (in press). Do children say as they're told? A new perspective on motherese. In Feagans, L., Garvey, C. & Golinkoff, R. (eds), The origins of communication. New York: Ablex.Google Scholar
Brown, R. (1973). A first language: the early stages. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Corrigan, R. (1978). Language development as related to stage 6 object permanence development. JChLang 5. 173–89.Google Scholar
Corrigan, R. (1979). Cognitive correlates of language: differential criteria yield differential results. ChDev 50. 617–31.Google Scholar
Corrigan, R. (1981). The effects of task and practice on search for invisibly displaced objects. DevRev 1. 1–17.Google Scholar
Gopnik, A. (1982). Words and plans: early language and the development of intelligent action. JChLang 9. 303–18.Google Scholar
Harding, C & Golinkoff, R. (1979). The origins of intentional vocalizations in prelinguistic infants. ChDev 50. 33–40.Google ScholarPubMed
Howe, C. (1976). The meanings of two word utterances in the speech of young children. JChLang 3. 29–48.Google Scholar
McCune-Nicolich, L. (1981). The cognitive bases of relational words in the single word period. JChLang 8. 15–34.Google Scholar
McNamara, J. (1972). Cognitive basis of language learning in infants. PsychRev 79. 1–13.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1981). Individual differences in language development: implication for development and language. DevPsych 57. 170–87.Google Scholar
Nelson, K., Rescorla, L. & Gruendel, J. (1978). Early lexicons: what do they mean? ChDev 49. 960–9.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1952). Origins of intelligence in children. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1954). The construction of reality in the child. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1962). Play, dreams, and imitation in childhood. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Rodgon, M., Jankowski, W. & Alenskas, L. (1977). A multi-functional approach to single-word usage. JChLang 4. 23–44.Google Scholar
Uzgiris, I. & Hunt, J. McV. (1975). Assessment in infancy: ordinal scales of psychological development. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar