Pub Date : 2021-02-01DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2021.1876699
K. Shum, T. Au, L. Romo, Sun-Ah Jun
ABSTRACT Do learners of a second language (L2) need frequent contact with native speakers of that language in order to master its phonology? What if they hear audio recordings of native speakers and receive immediate corrective feedback about their perception? We used a randomized controlled experiment with 135 Chinese speakers (with English as their L2) to examine whether a high-variability perceptual training (HVPT) paradigm might enhance the perception of challenging contrasts between English voiced and voiceless stop consonants. Learners in all the age groups tested – middle childhood, early adolescence, and young adulthood – showed enhanced perception of English stop consonants after 20 five-minute training sessions conducted across 4 to 6 weeks, based on audio-recorded input coupled with corrective feedback. The training benefits were maintained at the one-month follow-up. Our results suggest that HVPT using audio-recordings of native speakers can be an affordable and useful language enrichment to supplement live interaction with native speakers, for L2 learners of a wide age range.
{"title":"Learning Challenging L2 Sounds Via Computer Training: High-Variability Perceptual Training for Children and Adults","authors":"K. Shum, T. Au, L. Romo, Sun-Ah Jun","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2021.1876699","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2021.1876699","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Do learners of a second language (L2) need frequent contact with native speakers of that language in order to master its phonology? What if they hear audio recordings of native speakers and receive immediate corrective feedback about their perception? We used a randomized controlled experiment with 135 Chinese speakers (with English as their L2) to examine whether a high-variability perceptual training (HVPT) paradigm might enhance the perception of challenging contrasts between English voiced and voiceless stop consonants. Learners in all the age groups tested – middle childhood, early adolescence, and young adulthood – showed enhanced perception of English stop consonants after 20 five-minute training sessions conducted across 4 to 6 weeks, based on audio-recorded input coupled with corrective feedback. The training benefits were maintained at the one-month follow-up. Our results suggest that HVPT using audio-recordings of native speakers can be an affordable and useful language enrichment to supplement live interaction with native speakers, for L2 learners of a wide age range.","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":"29 1","pages":"327 - 342"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74032861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-31DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2021.1875831
Jodie Smith, P. Levickis, S. Goldfeld, L. Kemp, Laura J Conway
ABSTRACT Specific features of adult linguistic input may play a larger, or smaller role, at different child ages, across different language outcomes, in different cohorts. This prospective, longitudinal study explored associations between the quantity and quality (i.e. diversity and responsiveness) of maternal linguistic input and child language. This study was derived from an Australian population-based intervention trial. Participants were mother–child dyads at risk of experiencing social adversity (n = 136). Home visits were conducted at 24 and 36 months. At the 24-month visit, mother–child free-play videos were collected. Seven aspects of maternal linguistic input were measured from videos: imitations, expansions, wh-questions, labels, word types, word tokens and mean length of utterance (MLU). Child language was assessed using a standardized measure at 36 months. Maternal MLU and imitations were associated with overall language and expressive vocabulary scores; wh-questions were associated with receptive language scores. By exploring quantity and quality, we can appreciate the differential contribution of adult linguistic input to early language abilities in different groups of children. Our findings highlight how imitations of early words/sounds and asking children wh-questions may foster expressive and receptive language development. These findings may be helpful to consider when selecting strategies for use in parent-implemented language promotion activities.
{"title":"Maternal Linguistic Input and Child Language in a Cohort at Risk of Experiencing Social Adversity","authors":"Jodie Smith, P. Levickis, S. Goldfeld, L. Kemp, Laura J Conway","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2021.1875831","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2021.1875831","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Specific features of adult linguistic input may play a larger, or smaller role, at different child ages, across different language outcomes, in different cohorts. This prospective, longitudinal study explored associations between the quantity and quality (i.e. diversity and responsiveness) of maternal linguistic input and child language. This study was derived from an Australian population-based intervention trial. Participants were mother–child dyads at risk of experiencing social adversity (n = 136). Home visits were conducted at 24 and 36 months. At the 24-month visit, mother–child free-play videos were collected. Seven aspects of maternal linguistic input were measured from videos: imitations, expansions, wh-questions, labels, word types, word tokens and mean length of utterance (MLU). Child language was assessed using a standardized measure at 36 months. Maternal MLU and imitations were associated with overall language and expressive vocabulary scores; wh-questions were associated with receptive language scores. By exploring quantity and quality, we can appreciate the differential contribution of adult linguistic input to early language abilities in different groups of children. Our findings highlight how imitations of early words/sounds and asking children wh-questions may foster expressive and receptive language development. These findings may be helpful to consider when selecting strategies for use in parent-implemented language promotion activities.","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":"3 1","pages":"254 - 271"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82462897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-31DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2021.1875832
A. Sultana
ABSTRACT Crosslinguistic research into language development reveals that typological features determine children’s developmental patterns to a large extent. The present study examines the early morphological development in the verb inflectional paradigm in Bangla. Data from the first 6 months since the emergence of two-word combinations were collected from a monolingual Bangla-speaking child. Emergence of individual inflectional markers and their error patterns were identified, and interpreted with references to a range of proposals and crosslinguistic findings. The results are of significance for building a developmental profile of typically-developing Bangla-speaking children as we all for measuring the levels of development in atypically-developing children.
{"title":"Early Verb Morphological Development of a Bangla-speaking Child","authors":"A. Sultana","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2021.1875832","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2021.1875832","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Crosslinguistic research into language development reveals that typological features determine children’s developmental patterns to a large extent. The present study examines the early morphological development in the verb inflectional paradigm in Bangla. Data from the first 6 months since the emergence of two-word combinations were collected from a monolingual Bangla-speaking child. Emergence of individual inflectional markers and their error patterns were identified, and interpreted with references to a range of proposals and crosslinguistic findings. The results are of significance for building a developmental profile of typically-developing Bangla-speaking children as we all for measuring the levels of development in atypically-developing children.","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":"20 1","pages":"272 - 291"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81603528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-04DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2020.1855182
Mengru Han, Nivja H. de Jong, R. Kager
ABSTRACT Previous research indicates that infant-directed speech (IDS) is usually slower than adult-directed speech (ADS) and mothers prefer placing a focused word in isolation or utterance-final position in (English) IDS, which may benefit word learning. This study investigated the speaking rate and word position of IDS in two typologically-distinct languages: Dutch and Mandarin Chinese. We used a storybook-telling task to elicit semi-spontaneous ADS and IDS. The storybook contained target words that were familiar or unfamiliar to children. For each language, we asked: (1) whether IDS was slower than ADS; (2) whether mothers slowed down to highlight unfamiliar words; (3) whether the speaking rate of IDS changed between 18 and 24 months; and (4) whether mothers preferred placing unfamiliar words in isolation or utterance-final position in IDS. Results suggest that Dutch IDS, but not Mandarin Chinese IDS, was slower than ADS. Also, only Dutch mothers slowed down specifically when introducing unfamiliar words in IDS. In both languages, mothers placed target words in isolation (but not in utterance-final position) more frequently in IDS. These results suggest that the temporal modifications in IDS may vary across languages. Thus, language-specificity of IDS and its implications for language acquisition should be considered in future research.
{"title":"Language Specificity of Infant-directed Speech: Speaking Rate and Word Position in Word-learning Contexts","authors":"Mengru Han, Nivja H. de Jong, R. Kager","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2020.1855182","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2020.1855182","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Previous research indicates that infant-directed speech (IDS) is usually slower than adult-directed speech (ADS) and mothers prefer placing a focused word in isolation or utterance-final position in (English) IDS, which may benefit word learning. This study investigated the speaking rate and word position of IDS in two typologically-distinct languages: Dutch and Mandarin Chinese. We used a storybook-telling task to elicit semi-spontaneous ADS and IDS. The storybook contained target words that were familiar or unfamiliar to children. For each language, we asked: (1) whether IDS was slower than ADS; (2) whether mothers slowed down to highlight unfamiliar words; (3) whether the speaking rate of IDS changed between 18 and 24 months; and (4) whether mothers preferred placing unfamiliar words in isolation or utterance-final position in IDS. Results suggest that Dutch IDS, but not Mandarin Chinese IDS, was slower than ADS. Also, only Dutch mothers slowed down specifically when introducing unfamiliar words in IDS. In both languages, mothers placed target words in isolation (but not in utterance-final position) more frequently in IDS. These results suggest that the temporal modifications in IDS may vary across languages. Thus, language-specificity of IDS and its implications for language acquisition should be considered in future research.","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":"15 1","pages":"221 - 240"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86774244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2021.1912899
P. Jusczyk, A. Pérez-Leroux
{"title":"Announcment of the Peter Jusczyk Best Paper Award","authors":"P. Jusczyk, A. Pérez-Leroux","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2021.1912899","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2021.1912899","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":"6 1","pages":"67 - 67"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90821021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Similar Federal Agency Programs, Policy., Global Affairs
{"title":"Acknowledgment of Reviewers","authors":"Similar Federal Agency Programs, Policy., Global Affairs","doi":"10.1089/jayao.2015.1502","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1089/jayao.2015.1502","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":"36 1","pages":"1 - 2"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81416620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2020.1863808
J. Grinstead, Ramón Padilla-Reyes, Melissa Nieves-Rivera
ABSTRACT A locus of the difference in meaning between distributive and collective sentences can be the quantifiers that modify their subjects. A current theoretical account of distributive and collective sentences claims that sentences with quantifiers such as the in English, or los in Spanish, in subject position and an indefinite direct object, modified by a in English, or una in Spanish, are ambiguous as to whether they are distributive or collective, all things being equal. In contrast, the same sentences with each/cada in subject position are unambiguously distributive. This account claims that sentences with quantifiers such as the/los in subject position come to be interpreted collectively, and not distributively, because the distributive meaning could more informatively be constructed using the unambiguous each/cada quantifier. This is the same neo-Gricean reasoning that accounts for the Quantity Implicature that arises for some, given the informativeness of all. On this account, collective and distributive interpretations are intrinsically linked, which predicts that even children’s non-adult-like collective and distributive interpretations should nonetheless be statistically associated, which we confirm in a sample of Puerto Rican Spanish-speaking children. We further propose that growth occurs both internal to lexical items, in terms of denotative content, as well as externally, within the lexicon in quantifier networks. Such networks have traditionally been expressed in formal semantics as pragmatic scales. We claim that the growth of both of these lexical dimensions are indexed by general lexical growth and show that a statistical association obtains between them in our sample.
{"title":"A Collective-Distributive Pragmatic Scale and the Developing Lexicon","authors":"J. Grinstead, Ramón Padilla-Reyes, Melissa Nieves-Rivera","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2020.1863808","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2020.1863808","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT A locus of the difference in meaning between distributive and collective sentences can be the quantifiers that modify their subjects. A current theoretical account of distributive and collective sentences claims that sentences with quantifiers such as the in English, or los in Spanish, in subject position and an indefinite direct object, modified by a in English, or una in Spanish, are ambiguous as to whether they are distributive or collective, all things being equal. In contrast, the same sentences with each/cada in subject position are unambiguously distributive. This account claims that sentences with quantifiers such as the/los in subject position come to be interpreted collectively, and not distributively, because the distributive meaning could more informatively be constructed using the unambiguous each/cada quantifier. This is the same neo-Gricean reasoning that accounts for the Quantity Implicature that arises for some, given the informativeness of all. On this account, collective and distributive interpretations are intrinsically linked, which predicts that even children’s non-adult-like collective and distributive interpretations should nonetheless be statistically associated, which we confirm in a sample of Puerto Rican Spanish-speaking children. We further propose that growth occurs both internal to lexical items, in terms of denotative content, as well as externally, within the lexicon in quantifier networks. Such networks have traditionally been expressed in formal semantics as pragmatic scales. We claim that the growth of both of these lexical dimensions are indexed by general lexical growth and show that a statistical association obtains between them in our sample.","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":"12 1","pages":"48 - 66"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87451834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-12-28DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2020.1862660
E. Davis, B. Landau
ABSTRACT Perception verbs and mental verbs have significant overlap in their syntax and semantics; both reference mental representations when taking embedded clauses, as in I see that Maria was here and I think that Maria was here. Some have suggested that perception is more accessible for young children than mental states, raising the question of whether perception verbs could serve as a semantic model for the acquisition of mental verbs via their shared syntax. Since embedded clauses are key to referencing mental states for both verb classes, we examine the developmental trajectory of perception vs. mental verbs in these constructions and others. Using a sample of 5,884 child-produced utterances and 8,313 parent-produced utterances from the Brown and Gleason corpora of CHILDES, we analyze children’s production of perception and mental verbs in their syntactic frames, as well as that of their parents. We find that children begin to produce embedded frames for both perception and mental verbs around the same time, but produce embedded frames with mental verbs more often, especially as they get older, despite greater use of perception verbs overall. These patterns do not reflect parental input: parents produce both verb types with similar frequency and use embedded frames more often than their children. These findings suggest that perception verbs are unlikely to serve as a model for mental verbs, and instead that mental verbs and their regular occurrence with embedded frames may provide a model for perception verbs when the latter reference mental states. We propose a semantic updating account for children’s acquisition of perception verbs, arguing that children’s early knowledge of perception verbs may not include mental state representations as a component of their meaning, and that this may only develop later as children learn the propositional syntax that is shared by and regularly occurs with mental verbs.
{"title":"Seeing and Believing: The Relationship between Perception and Mental Verbs in Acquisition","authors":"E. Davis, B. Landau","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2020.1862660","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2020.1862660","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Perception verbs and mental verbs have significant overlap in their syntax and semantics; both reference mental representations when taking embedded clauses, as in I see that Maria was here and I think that Maria was here. Some have suggested that perception is more accessible for young children than mental states, raising the question of whether perception verbs could serve as a semantic model for the acquisition of mental verbs via their shared syntax. Since embedded clauses are key to referencing mental states for both verb classes, we examine the developmental trajectory of perception vs. mental verbs in these constructions and others. Using a sample of 5,884 child-produced utterances and 8,313 parent-produced utterances from the Brown and Gleason corpora of CHILDES, we analyze children’s production of perception and mental verbs in their syntactic frames, as well as that of their parents. We find that children begin to produce embedded frames for both perception and mental verbs around the same time, but produce embedded frames with mental verbs more often, especially as they get older, despite greater use of perception verbs overall. These patterns do not reflect parental input: parents produce both verb types with similar frequency and use embedded frames more often than their children. These findings suggest that perception verbs are unlikely to serve as a model for mental verbs, and instead that mental verbs and their regular occurrence with embedded frames may provide a model for perception verbs when the latter reference mental states. We propose a semantic updating account for children’s acquisition of perception verbs, arguing that children’s early knowledge of perception verbs may not include mental state representations as a component of their meaning, and that this may only develop later as children learn the propositional syntax that is shared by and regularly occurs with mental verbs.","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":"40 1","pages":"26 - 47"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2020-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91020453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-12-13DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2020.1820338
J. de Villiers
ABSTRACT Does language have a role to play in conceptual development, and if so, what is that role? Understanding the contents of another person’s mind parallels the development in early childhood of mental state language. Does the conceptual understanding get reflected in and drive the language development, or does the language allow the representation of propositional attitudes like belief? The paper reviews the evidence and sets up the terms of the debate, focusing on the syntax for mental states. It also asks whether syntax development could serve as a scaffold for other concepts that are described by propositions rather than labels. Finally, it reviews experimentation on the syntax of embedded clauses, where subtle phenomena are acquired for which it is impossible to imagine nonverbal counterparts: here, language is human thinking.
{"title":"With Language in Mind","authors":"J. de Villiers","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2020.1820338","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2020.1820338","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Does language have a role to play in conceptual development, and if so, what is that role? Understanding the contents of another person’s mind parallels the development in early childhood of mental state language. Does the conceptual understanding get reflected in and drive the language development, or does the language allow the representation of propositional attitudes like belief? The paper reviews the evidence and sets up the terms of the debate, focusing on the syntax for mental states. It also asks whether syntax development could serve as a scaffold for other concepts that are described by propositions rather than labels. Finally, it reviews experimentation on the syntax of embedded clauses, where subtle phenomena are acquired for which it is impossible to imagine nonverbal counterparts: here, language is human thinking.","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":"24 1","pages":"71 - 95"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2020-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74859799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-12-11DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2020.1820339
R. Bettle, A. Rosati
ABSTRACT The ability to understand the mental states of other individuals is central to human social behavior, yet some theory of mind capacities are shared with other species. Comparisons of theory of mind skills across humans and other primates can provide a critical test of the cognitive prerequisites necessary for different theory of mind skills to emerge. A fundamental difference between humans and non-humans is language: while language may scaffold some developing theory of mind skills in humans, other species do not have similar capacities for or immersion in language. Comparative work can therefore provide a new line of evidence to test the role of language in the emergence of complex social cognition. Here we first provide an overview of the evidence for shared aspects of theory of mind in other primates, and then examine the evidence for apparently human-unique aspects of theory of mind that may be linked to language. We finally contrast different evolutionary processes, such as competition and cooperation, that may have been important for primate social cognition versus human-specific forms of theory of mind. We argue that this evolutionary perspective can help adjudicate between different proposals on the link between human-specific forms of social cognition and language.
{"title":"The Primate Origins of Human Social Cognition","authors":"R. Bettle, A. Rosati","doi":"10.1080/15475441.2020.1820339","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2020.1820339","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The ability to understand the mental states of other individuals is central to human social behavior, yet some theory of mind capacities are shared with other species. Comparisons of theory of mind skills across humans and other primates can provide a critical test of the cognitive prerequisites necessary for different theory of mind skills to emerge. A fundamental difference between humans and non-humans is language: while language may scaffold some developing theory of mind skills in humans, other species do not have similar capacities for or immersion in language. Comparative work can therefore provide a new line of evidence to test the role of language in the emergence of complex social cognition. Here we first provide an overview of the evidence for shared aspects of theory of mind in other primates, and then examine the evidence for apparently human-unique aspects of theory of mind that may be linked to language. We finally contrast different evolutionary processes, such as competition and cooperation, that may have been important for primate social cognition versus human-specific forms of theory of mind. We argue that this evolutionary perspective can help adjudicate between different proposals on the link between human-specific forms of social cognition and language.","PeriodicalId":46642,"journal":{"name":"Language Learning and Development","volume":"14 1","pages":"96 - 127"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2020-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74735671","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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