Language-specific factors in first language acquisition : the expression of motion events in French and German

404 Pages·2012·1.345 MB·

by  Anne-Katharina Harr

Anne-Katharina Harr
Language-Specific Factors in First Language Acquisition
Studies on
Language Aquisition
Edited by
Peter Jordens
Volume 48
Anne-Katharina Harr
Language-Specific
Factors in First
Language Acquisition
The Expression of Motion Events
in French and German
ISBN 978-1-61451-226-4
e-ISBN 978-1-61451-174-8
ISSN 1861-4248
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress.
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2012 Walter de Gruyter, Inc., Boston/Berlin
Typesetting: PTP-Berlin Protago-TEX-Production GmbH, Berlin
Printing and binding: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
♾ Printed on acid-free paper
Printed in Germany
www.degruyter.com
To my Grandmother

Acknowledgments
The present study was carried out between 2007 and 2010. I am grateful to the
many people who supported my work during these years and I would like to
thank them at this time.
In the first place, this study could not have been carried out without the chil-
dren and adults who participated in the experiment. I am very much obliged to
the kindergartens and schools in Germany and France for their unreserved coop-
eration and support. My thanks also go to all the adults in both countries who did
not consider themselves too good to describe colourful animated cartoons!
I am especially grateful to my two supervisors, Maya Hickmann and Katrin
Lindner, who both followed and supervised my work continuously and helped
me in completely different ways to deal with the complex matters involved in
this study. Many long-lasting discussions and the critical reading of my work
motivated me to query my concepts and to take notice of particular, interesting
aspects of my data.
With respect to the technical support I received, I would like to express my
appreciation to two colleagues in particular: Philippe Bonnet (Université de
Paris 5), who helped me analyse my results statistically, and Pierre Taranne (Uni-
versité de Paris 8), who not only designed the animated cartoons, but who also
wrote the programs for the coding of my data. Without their expert assistance this
study would not have been possible.
For all my colleagues, who often also became friends, I was, and am, extremely
grateful. Without them, the past few years would have been boring and tiring, but
the mutual encouragement and fun we shared made me love my work! To know
that friends near and far were thinking of me was enormously supportive, and I
appreciated all the practical help, conversations, distractions and prayers.
Most importantly, I would like to thank my parents, who continued to encour-
age me throughout the last years. They were always there when I needed moti-
vation and empathy. Finally, my gratitude is due my wonderful husband, who
gently but constantly helped me to set the right priorities in life.
Munich, September 2012 Anne-Katharina Harr

Contents
Acknowledgments   vii
0 Introduction   1
0.1 Why space?   1
0.2 Space across languages   2
0.3 A developmental perspective   3
0.4 The organization of the book   4
Part I: State of the art
1 Language and cognition   9
1.1 Convergences of the notions language and cognition   9
1.1.1 Language   9
1.1.2 Cognition   15
1.2 The relation between language and thought   20
1.2.1 Language is thought   21
1.2.2 Language and thought do not influence each other   22
1.2.3 Thought influences language   24
1.2.4 Language influences thought   26
1.2.5 Conclusion   28
2 Linguistic determinism and “thinking for speaking”   30
2.1 Linguistic determinism   31
2.2 “Thinking for speaking”   36
2.3 Implications for language acquisition   39
2.4 Are we on the wrong track?   42
2.5 Conclusion   44
3 The relation between language and cognition in different language
acquisition theories   46
3.1 Nativism   46
3.1.1 Basic assumptions of nativism about first
language acquisition   47
3.1.2 Criticism and further development of the nativist position   50
3.2 Cognitivism   54
3.2.1 Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and his assumptions
about first language acquisition   54
3.2.2 Criticism and further developments of Piaget’s theory   58
x   Contents
3.3 Constructivism   62
3.3.1 Construction Grammar and usage-based approaches to first
language acquisition   62
3.3.2 Criticism of constructivist and usage-based research   67
3.4 Conclusion   70
4 Selected aspects of spatial cognition in children   73
4.1 The emergence of spatial cognition   73
4.2 Spatial relations   75
4.3 Motion   78
4.4 Causality   80
4.5 Summary   82
5 Verbalizations of motion events   84
5.1 A typological approach to the expression of motion events:
Talmy’s framework   85
5.2 Variability in the expression of motion events and its cognitive
implications: Slobin’s assumptions   98
5.3 Motion events in child language   105
5.3.1 Semantic components   106
5.3.2 Syntactic complexity   113
5.3.3 Co-verbal gestures.   115
5.4 Motion events in German   116
5.5 Motion events in French   125
6 General assumptions   132
Part II: Experimental study on the expression of motion events
in French and German
7 Methodology   137
7.1 Participants   137
7.2 Material   138
7.2.1 Voluntary Motion   138
7.2.2 Caused Motion   139
7.3 Procedure   141
7.4 Transcription   142
7.5 Coding System   142
7.5.1 General coding principles   142