title: A developmental shift from similar to language-specific strategies in verb acquisition: a comparison of English, Spanish, and Japanese.
abstract: The world's languages draw on a common set of event components for their verb systems. Yet, these components are differentially distributed across languages. At what age do children begin to use language-specific patterns to narrow possible verb meanings? English-, Japanese-, and Spanish-speaking adults, toddlers, and preschoolers were shown videos of an animated star performing a novel manner along a novel path paired with a language-appropriate nonsense verb. They were then asked to extend that verb to either the same manner or the same path as in training. Across languages, toddlers (2- and 2.5-year-olds) revealed a significant preference for interpreting the verb as a path verb. In preschool (3- and 5-year-olds) and adulthood, the participants displayed language-specific patterns of verb construal. These findings illuminate the way in which verb construal comes to reflect the properties of the input language.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at Dallas, Callier Center for Communication Disorders, 1966 Inwood Rd., Dallas, TX 75235, USA. mandy.maguire@utdallas.edu
authors.forename: Mandy J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Maguire
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirsh-Pasek
authors.forename: Roberta Michnick
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Golinkoff
authors.forename: Mutsumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: Etsuko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Haryu
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vanegas
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pulverman
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Davis
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D013030:Spain; D014481:United States; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014825:Vocabulary