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Abstract
Much research has focused on the expression of voluntary motion (Slobin, 2004; Talmy, 2000). The present study contributes to this body of research by comparing how children (three to ten years) and adults narrated short, animated cartoons in English and German (satellite-framed languages) vs. French (verb-framed). The cartoons showed agents displacing themselves in variable Manners along different Paths (Path saliency and variance were specifically manipulated in four item types). Results show an increase with age across languages in how much information participants expressed. However, at all ages, more motion information was encoded in English and German than in French. Furthermore, language-specific features impacted the content and its organization within utterances in discourse, showing more variation within and across Path types in French than in the satellite-framed languages, resulting in later achievement of adult-like descriptions in this language. The discussion highlights the joint impact of cognitive and typological features on language development.
Highlights
Imagine a scene where a girl crosses a street on rollerskates
The aim is to determine the extent to which the development of motion expression is influenced by language-specific features and Path types in addition to general cognitive factors
An overall effect of item type occurred: in all languages and age groups, CONTROL items showed significantly fewer Path expressions than test items (b = −0.09, t(3106) = −36.54, p
Summary
Imagine a scene where a girl crosses a street on rollerskates. Lexicalizing this information (Talmy, 1985) presents a classical linearization problem (Levelt, 1981): the event encompasses two simultaneous sub-events (crossing and rollerskating), and one is not obviously more important than the other. Most languages allow speakers to linearize the information as they see fit, such orders are likely to have discourse implications, given that each language type has a preferred way of lexicalizing information. The aim is to determine the extent to which the development of motion expression is influenced by language-specific features and Path types (across, up, down) in addition to general cognitive factors
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