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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
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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

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