Children's deictic and nondeictic interpretations of the spatial locatives in front of and behind.
A younger group (mean age 5; 10) and an older group (mean age 9; 11) of children were asked to place a toy man IN FRONT OF or BEHIND a car which either faced away from them or faced sideways. When the observer's viewpoint was not emphasized in the instructions, or was merely implied, both age groups responded in a nondeictic way. When the viewpoint of the observer was an essential component of the task and the spatial term was omitted, both age groups selected a deictic location. However, when the viewpoint was emphasized but when the spatial term was also included the responses were split between deictic and nondeictic locations.
Cox
M V
MV
Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, UK.
Isard
S
S
D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D012660:Semantics; D014825:Vocabulary