| Different languages can make unique distinctions in the way space is lexicalized (e.g., Choi and Bowerman, 1996a). The main purpose of the present study is to investigate spatial language in native Japanese-speaking adults and children from 2- to 5-years of age using an elicited-production task. The first experiment investigated the use of two different modeling methods (incomplete vs. complete modeling) and found no differences in the results of elicited spatial language in English. The second experiment investigated Japanese spatial terms in native Japanese adult speakers and compared the relations to which their terms are categorically extended to the relations denoted by terms elicited by English-speaking adults. The results showed that Japanese has many more precise terms for categorizing spatial relations than does English. The data in Experiments 1 and 2 were compared using different coding methods (i.e., comparing English prepositions to Japanese verbs or English verb-plus-preposition combinations to Japanese verbs). The results showed that the use of verb-plus-preposition descriptions to categorize English spatial terms critically changes the interpretation of how these two language differ semantically. The third experiment used a DVD to show participants the modeled relations. The results showed that this is a valid technique that can be used to investigate how spatial relations are lexicalized in other languages as well. Lastly, significant developmental changes in the acquisition of spatial terms as well as in the various types of child-unique responses provided by the Japanese children were explored. Although some similarities were found in the categorization of space among English, Japanese and Korean languages, the findings of the present study showed language-specific categorization of space, even among the two Asian languages. However, the results also suggest that the boundaries of spatial categories are not clear-cut due to our flexible ability to coordinate spatial information with language. |
