Ordinal knowledge: Number names and number concepts in Chinese and English

Previous research has demonstrated cross-language variation in early counti ng associated with linguistic differences in number-naming systems. Ordinal number names are typically learned later than cardinal names, but language s also differ in the regularity with which they form these names. Elementar y school children in China and the U.S. showed differences in the acquisiti on and use of ordinal numbers corresponding to linguistic differences in or dinal names in their native languages. On tasks assessing children's concep tual knowledge of ordinal relations, a more complicated picture emerged. Th ese results suggest that (a) children induce their language's set of ordina l number names by generalization based on rules sanctioned by early example s, and (b) the relation between ordinal names and ordinal concepts is a com plex one, with language only one source of difficulty in understanding ordi nal relations. Implications for studies of the relation between linguistic structure and cognitive development are discussed, in particular the possib ility that effects of linguistic differences may vary for different levels of development and for different aspects of cognition.