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Language and conceptual development: Words as essence placeholders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2003

Fei Xu
Fei Xu
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115 f.xu@neu.edu
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Abstract

Perhaps in addition to language being a potential medium of domain-general thought, as suggested by Carruthers, language may also play another role in conceptual development: Words are “essence placeholders.” Evidence is presented from studies on categorization, object individuation, and inductive inference in infancy. The assumption that words are essence placeholders may be a mechanism by which infants acquire kind concepts.

Type
Brief Report
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 25 , Issue 6 , December 2002 , pp. 704 - 705
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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