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Can a microwave heat up coffee? How English- and Japanese-speaking children choose subjects in lexical causative sentences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2015

JUNKO KANERO ,
KATHY HIRSH-PASEK  and
ROBERTA MICHNICK GOLINKOFF
JUNKO KANERO*
Affiliation:
Temple University
KATHY HIRSH-PASEK
Affiliation:
Temple University
ROBERTA MICHNICK GOLINKOFF
Affiliation:
University of Delaware
*
Address for correspondence: Junko Kanero, Department of Psychology, Temple University, 1701 North 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122. e-mail: jkanero@temple.edu
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Abstract

Languages differ greatly in how they express causal events. In languages like Japanese, the subjects of causative sentences, or causers, are generally animate and intentional, whereas in other languages like English, causers range widely from animate beings to inanimate objects (e.g. Wolff, Jeon & Li, 2009). This paper explores when children learn to represent cause in their native tongue and how this learning occurs over the course of development. English- and Japanese-speaking preschoolers watched animations that were caused by (i) humans acting intentionally, (ii) humans acting accidentally, (iii) objects that generate energy (e.g. a machine), and (iv) objects that do not generate energy (e.g. a tool). Children were then asked to choose a good description of the event between two options. At age three, English- and Japanese-speaking children performed the task in similar ways, attending only to the intention of causal agents; however, at age four, speakers of the two languages diverged. English speakers were more likely to accept energy-generating objects such as machines as the subject of a lexical causative sentence than Japanese speakers.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 43 , Issue 5 , September 2016 , pp. 993 - 1019
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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