The Notion of Source in Language Acquisition

Clark, Eve V.; Carpenter, Kathie

doi:10.2307/414840

Cited by 84 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Linguists have explored the "localist" hypothesis that the child derives its abstract categories by generalizing initially spatial concepts (cf. Anderson, 1971;Clark & Carpenter, 1989). Cognitive linguists have argued along related lines that our most abstract categories are derived from spatial archetypes (cf.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cognitive Theory of Graphical and Linguistic Reasoning: Logic and Implementation

1995

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cognitive Theory of Graphical and Linguistic Reasoning: Logic and Implementation

1995

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“…In many other cases, the origins of children's overextensions remain open. For instance, Clark and Carpenter (1989) pointed out that both types of hypotheses can explain from-overextensions and concluded that "it is unclear what would allow us to distinguish them" (p. 24).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Does Children's Spatial Language Reveal About Spatial Concepts? Evidence From the Use of Containment Expressions

Johanson

Papafragou

2014

Cognitive Science

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Children's overextensions of spatial language are often taken to reveal spatial biases. However, it is unclear whether extension patterns should be attributed to children's overly general spatial concepts or to a narrower notion of conceptual similarity allowing metaphor-like extensions. We describe a previously unnoticed extension of spatial expressions and use a novel method to determine its origins. English-and Greek-speaking 4-and 5-year-olds used containment expressions (e.g., English into, Greek mesa) for events where an object moved into another object but extended such expressions to events where the object moved behind or under another object. The pattern emerged in adult speakers of both languages and also in speakers of 10 additional languages. We conclude that learners do not have an overly general concept of Containment. Nevertheless, children (and adults) perceive similarities across Containment and other types of spatial scenes, even when these similarities are obscured by the conventional forms of the language.

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“…It is fairly wellestablished that extended uses of prepositions often reflect metaphorical extensions of their basic meanings, with the Localist Hypothesis plays an important role in defining the structure of the space of extended meanings (Croft 1991, Lakoff & Johnson 1980. For example, causes of change of state events are sometimes marked with the same prepositions as sources, as in (23a), where the cause is marked by from (Clark & Carpenter 1989 ;Croft 1991Croft , 1998 ; and a result state may be marked by into or to, perhaps because such states are viewed as locations or goals in what Jackendoff (1983 : 194f. ) calls the ' identificational ' field.…”

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confidence: 99%

The English dative alternation: The case for verb sensitivity

2008

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We challenge the predominant view of the English dative alternation, which takes all alternating verbs to have two meanings : a caused possession meaning realized by the double object variant and a caused motion meaning realized by the to variant. Instead, we argue that verbs like give and sell only have a caused possession meaning, while verbs like throw and send have both caused motion and caused possession meanings. We show that the caused possession meaning may be realized by both variants. Concomitantly, we argue that verbs like give, even in the to variant, lack a conceptual path constituent, and instead have a caused possession meaning which can be understood as the bringing about of a ' have' relation. We reassess evidence for alternative approaches adduced from inference patterns and verb-argument combinations and demonstrate how our verb-sensitive analysis, when combined with an account of variant choice, provides a more insightful explanation of this data, while having wider coverage. Our investigation affirms proposals that a verb's own meaning plays a key role in determining its argument realization options. To conclude, we consider the crosslinguistic implications of our study, attempting to explain why so many languages lack a true dative alternation. A V E R B -S E N S I T I V E A P P R O A C H T O T H E D A T I V E A L T E R N A T I O NAny analysis of the English dative alternation must address the question of what gives rise to this alternation, particularly as it is not found in all languages. This alternation involves verbs that show two realizations of apparently the same arguments, as illustrated with give and throw in (1) and (2), respectively. We refer to these two argument realization patterns as [1] We have had many opportunities to present this material, and we are grateful to the audiences for their comments and questions. We thank all those who have discussed this paper with us or provided extensive comments on earlier versions, including

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The Notion of Source in Language Acquisition

Cited by 84 publications

References 26 publications

A Cognitive Theory of Graphical and Linguistic Reasoning: Logic and Implementation

A Cognitive Theory of Graphical and Linguistic Reasoning: Logic and Implementation

What Does Children's Spatial Language Reveal About Spatial Concepts? Evidence From the Use of Containment Expressions

The English dative alternation: The case for verb sensitivity

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