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The cognitive bases of relational words in the single word period*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Lorraine McCune-Nicolich
Lorraine McCune-Nicolich
Affiliation:
Douglass College, Rutgers University
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Abstract

Recent research on single-word language has focused on the acquisition of object words, considering relational words such as more, allgone, here, and up only peripherally. These words are considered in relation to the operative schemes of sensorimotor intelligence as suggested by Sinclair (1970). Relational words, like syntactic structure, appear to develop and exist apart from specific content. Study of such words helps clarify the relationship between sensorimotor understandings and the language of the pre-operational child. Data spanning the entire single-word period from five subjects provide an empirical base for analysing the meanings of these words in use. A model is then proposed for considering relational words as coding a set of interrelated meanings reflecting the cognitive organization of the late sensorimotor period.

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Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , February 1981 , pp. 15 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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Footnotes

[*]

Address for correspondence: Department of Education, Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. 08903. Helpful comments from Dr D. Ramsay and Dr H. Sinclair are gratefully acknowledged. Credit is due Monica Bach of Rutgers Graduate School of Education for searching and organizing the literature on single relational words. Grant number Ro1 HD11731 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development provided partial support for the preparation of this manuscript.

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