On putting the horse before the cart: Exploring conceptual bases of word order via acquisition of a miniature artificial language

Abstract

In four experiments using preschool children, congruence between reference fields and name order in a miniature artificial language (MAL) was studied. In Experiment 1 the subjects learned names for two horses and two carts, and subsequently tried to learn an MAL using the names presented either in the horse-cart order or in reverse order (cart before horse). The former was more easily learned. In Experiment 2 the possible influence of spatial position and animacy in producing the effect was examined by using toy graders and toy boulders, with the former pushing the latter. Name order which represented grader plus boulder was more easily learned than the reverse (boulder name followed by grader name), suggesting that a property such as agency determines ease of acquisition. Experiments 3 and 4 repeated the first two, but using Fijian children. Fijian languages are considered to be subject-final. The patterns of results were the same as for English-speaking children, indicating that the effects are not dependent upon knowing English, a subject-initial language. The results are discussed in terms of possible semantic bases of word ordering, and are seen as giving support to a “naturalness” position, which asserts that it is appropriate to refer first to agents, then patients. They are also seen as contributing to the debate on whether semantically based word combinations in early language acquisition might serve as a device assisting entry to fully syntactic forms.