20 Sep
2011
20 Sep
'11
2:11 p.m.
The next talk in the CDC Seminar series will be given by:
Soonja Choi, San Diego State University
Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 5 PM
Location: CEU Cognitive Development Center, Hattyú u. 14, 3rd floor
*Language and Thought: Spatial Semantics & Spatial Cognition from Infancy to
Adulthood*
Abstract: Languages differ significantly in the way they categorize spatial
relations. For example, English makes a distinction between containment
(e.g. putting an apple IN a bowl) and support (e.g. putting a cup ON a
table), whereas Korean makes a distinction between loose fit and tight fit
regardless of containment and support. In Korean, the verb *KKITA* ‘tight
fit or interlock’ is used for both a tight-fit containment relation such as
‘putting a book tightly in its box-shaped cover’ and a tight-fit support
relation such as ‘putting a Lego piece tightly onto another’.
The extensiveness of cross-linguistic differences in spatial semantic
categorization found in recent studies on adult grammars raises questions
about when and how children acquire the spatial semantic system of their
native language, and more generally, about the relationship between language
and cognition in children and adults. In this talk, I present studies that
examine language-specific input and spatial cognition in learners and adult
speakers of English and Korean. In particular, I examine whether and to what
extent language-specific semantics can influence nonverbal spatial
categorization involving tight fit, containment and support. Overall, my
studies show that there is a dynamic interaction between language and
cognition from an early age and that language starts to influence spatial
cognition as children use spatial words productively. However, some
perceptual aspects persist and contribute to spatial categorization in
certain contexts regardless of language-specific input.
Cognitive Science events at CEU: http://cognitivescience.ceu.hu/events
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