| Abstract: | Tested a universality hypothesis of language acquisition that states that the order of acquisition of verifying 4 types of statements is true affirmatives (e.g., "You are a child"), false affirmatives (e.g., "You are a baby"), false negatives (e.g., You aren't a child"), and true negatives (e.g., "You aren't a baby"). 18 English- and 18 Japanese-speaking 3- or 4-yr-olds were asked to verify these statements. Consistent with the hypothesis, English-speaking Ss found true negatives most difficult, but contrary to the hypotheses, Japanese speakers found false negatives most difficult. A theory of cross-linguistic language acquisition is proposed that deals with the interaction of universal and unique aspects of the child's basic psychological mechanism across the 2 languages. A statement-verification model for Japanese is also presented. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
