Does learning a language require the child to reconceptualize the world?

Abstract

Sortal concepts, lexicalized as count nouns in languages with a count/mass distinction, provide criteria for individuation and numerical identity. This paper examines Quine's and Piaget's claims that babies and young children lack the logical resources to represent sortal concepts. Evidence is marshalled against the Quine/Piaget position, in favor of a view that even young infants represent at least one sortal concept, physical object, which provides spatiotemporal criteria for individuation and identity. Evidence is also provided that babies below 11 months of age may not represent more specific sortals such as cup, animal, bottle, or book. Rather, they may conceptualize these entities in a way closely related to Quine's hypothesis.