Why loose rings can be tight: The role of learned object knowledge in the development of Korean spatial fit terms

Chang, Franklin; Choi, Youngon; Ko, Yeonjung

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2014.11.002

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Moreover, if the semantic representation of leggen in comprehension is indeed more complex than the representation of zetten, we expect to find prediction effects for zetten earlier than for leggen (if at all). 18 The distinction between Korean tight and loose fit verbs has also been shown to depend on inherent object properties (Chang, Choi, & Ko, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting things in new places: Linguistic experience modulates the predictive power of placement verb semantics

Bergen

Flecken

2017

Journal of Memory and Language

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a b s t r a c tA central question regarding predictive language processing concerns the extent to which linguistic experience modulates the process. We approached this question by investigating sentence processing in advanced second language (L2) users with different native language (L1) backgrounds. Using a visual world eye tracking paradigm, we investigated to what extent L1 and L2 participants showed anticipatory eye movements to objects while listening to Dutch placement event descriptions. L2 groups differed in the degree of similarity between Dutch and their L1 with respect to placement verb semantics: German, like Dutch, specifies object position in placement verbs (put.STAND vs. put.LIE), whereas English and French typically leave position underspecified (put). Results showed that German L2 listeners, like native Dutch listeners, anticipate objects that match the verbally encoded position immediately upon encountering the verb. French/English L2 participants, however, did not show any prediction effects, despite proper understanding of Dutch placement verbs. Our findings suggest that prior experience with a specific semantic contrast in one's L1 facilitates prediction in L2, and hence adds to the evidence that linguistic experience modulates predictive sentence processing.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting things in new places: Linguistic experience modulates the predictive power of placement verb semantics

Bergen

Flecken

2017

Journal of Memory and Language

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“…Detailed analyses of the language data will reveal secondary features to which speakers of each language show some level of sensitivity corresponding to the previous findings presented earlier: In English, we expect to see a set of expressions (e.g., fit, together ) that occur more frequently for at least a subset of tight‐fit events (C&H; Choi, ; Norbury et al., ). In Korean, we expect to find some sensitivity at the linguistic level to the containment feature treating certain types of tight and loose containment alike (Chang et al., ; C&H) and distinguish it from loose support.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Semantics, Cognition, and Their Interaction: A Comparative Study of Spatial Categorization in English and Korean

Yun

Choi

2018

Cognitive Science

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This study has two goals. First, we present much-needed empirical linguistic data and systematic analyses on the spatial semantic systems in English and Korean, two languages that have been extensively compared to date in the debate on spatial language and spatial cognition. We conduct our linguistic investigation comprehensively, encompassing the domains of tight- and loose-fit as well as containment and support relations. The current analysis reveals both cross-linguistic commonalities and differences: From a common set of spatial features, each language highlights a subset of those features for its principal categorization, and those primary features are importantly different between English and Korean: English speakers categorize events predominantly by containment and support relations (and do so with prepositions), whereas Korean speakers categorize them by tight-fit and loose-fit relations (and do so with verbs), with a further distinction of containment and support within the loose-fit relation. The analysis also shows that the tight-fit domain is more cross-linguistically diverse in categorization than is the loose-fit domain. Second, we test the language data against the nonlinguistic categorization results reported in Choi and Hattrup (2012). The results show a remarkable degree of convergence between the patterns predicted from the current linguistic analysis and those found in C&H's nonlinguistic study and thus provide empirical and strong evidence for an influence of language on nonlinguistic spatial cognition. At the same time, the study reveals areas where the two systems closely interact with each other as well as those where one is independent from the other. Taking both parts of the study together, we identify the specific roles that language and spatial perception/cognition play in spatial categorization.

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“…Similarly, in their early comprehension of "kkita," Korean toddlers link the term to actions that result in either a tight fit containment relation or a tight fit support relation (Choi, McDonough, Bowerman, & Mandler, 1999). Although children continue to refine their acquisition of "kkita" into early childhood (Chang, Choi, & Ko, 2015), these results document how Korean toddlers accurately apply "kkita" to both containment and support relations with a tight fit from the earliest stages of acquiring the term.…”

mentioning

confidence: 81%

“…Between 14 and 16 months, infants map “kkita,” “on,” and “under” to the appropriate events (Choi & Bowerman, ; Choi et al., ; Meints, Plunkett, Harris, & Dimmock, ). Yet, as children expand their spatial vocabularies, they broaden the range of spatial events to which they appropriately map these spatial terms, including less prototypic exemplars (e.g., Chang et al., ; Meints et al., ). These results suggest that spatial language and spatial categories mutually inform each other over time.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

What Develops in Infants’ Spatial Categorization? Korean Infants’ Categorization of Containment and Tight‐Fit Relations

Casasola

Ahn

2017

Child Development

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Korean-learning infants' categorization of two spatial categories, one consistent and one inconsistent with the Korean semantic category of "kkita," was examined. Infants of 10 months (n = 32) and 18 months (n = 49) were tested on their categorization of containment or tight fit spatial relations. At 10 months, infants only formed a category of containment, but at 18 months, their categorization of tight fit was significantly stronger than containment. The results suggest that Korean infants benefit from their language environment in forming a category of tight fit when the exemplars are perceptually diverse. In particular, infants' language environment may bolster their ability to generalize across diverse exemplars to form abstract categorical representations of spatial relations.

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Why loose rings can be tight: The role of learned object knowledge in the development of Korean spatial fit terms

Cited by 6 publications

References 14 publications

Putting things in new places: Linguistic experience modulates the predictive power of placement verb semantics

Putting things in new places: Linguistic experience modulates the predictive power of placement verb semantics

Spatial Semantics, Cognition, and Their Interaction: A Comparative Study of Spatial Categorization in English and Korean

What Develops in Infants’ Spatial Categorization? Korean Infants’ Categorization of Containment and Tight‐Fit Relations

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