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The Development of Spatial Location in Finnish
Author(s) -
Weist Richard M.,
Lyytinen Paula
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1080/00207599108246858
Subject(s) - locative case , referent , deixis , psychology , linguistics , representation (politics) , sentence , object (grammar) , cognitive psychology , contrast (vision) , task (project management) , artificial intelligence , computer science , philosophy , management , politics , political science , law , economics
The purpose of this research was to study the shift from mono‐ to bi‐referential spatial location in the language of Finnish children. Monoreferential location is based on the intrinsic properties of a referent object and the proximity relationship, and bireferential location requires coordinated spatial relationships involving referent objects and a projective relationship. Locative expressions which are monoreferential include: in/on/under and intrinsic front/back , and those which are bireferential include deictic front/back and between . A pictorial representation of locative relationships with a sentence‐picture matching task was used to present the mono‐ vs bi‐referential contrast, with the latter being either static or dynamic (i.e. concerning motion to goal). At 2;6, Finnish children could solve monoreferential location problems but not bireferential ones, and by 4;6, they solved both. This linguistic outcome was related to phases in conceptual development.