CROSS-LINGUISTIC DIFFERENCES IN EARLY SEMANTIC AND COGNITIVE-DEVELOPMENT

In a longitudinal study, the early semantic and cognitive development of 11 Korean-speaking and 12 English-speaking children was recorded. T hree types of cognitive abilities, object-permanence, means-ends probl em solving, and categorization, and three related semantic abilities, disappearance words, success/failure words, and a naming spurt emerged at about the same time in English speakers. However, categorization a nd the naming spurt were significantly delayed relative to other abili ties in the Korean speakers. In absolute terms, categorization and the naming spurt emerged later in Korean speakers than in English speaker s, and means-ends abilities and success/failure words emerged earlier in Korean speakers than in English speakers. in a cross-sectional stud y of 18 Korean speakers and 30 English speakers, the Korean-speaking m others consistently emphasized actions, and the English-speaking mothe rs consistently emphasized names. The Korean-speaking children were co nsistently delayed in categorization and advanced in means-ends abilit ies relative to the English speakers. These findings suggest that diff erences in linguistic input may affect cognitive development.