Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T13:20:07.188Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Words and plans: early language and the development of intelligent action*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Alison Gopnik
Alison Gopnik
Affiliation:
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Many early words encode aspects of plans, that is, actions performed in order to bring about events. Gone and down encode the fact that an action is intended to bring about a certain type of event. There and oh dear encode the success or failure of plans, no encodes the rejection of a plan. More encodes the repetition of a plan. It is argued that the concepts encoded by gone and down are like the concepts that underlie trial- and-error problem-solving and are developed after 12 months. The more abstract concepts encoded by there, oh dear, no and more are associated with the development of insight after 18 months. These early words are acquired because they are relevant to the child's cognitive problems.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , June 1982 , pp. 303 - 318
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

A version of this paper was presented at the Reading Child Language Seminar, Reading, April 1979. It is based on work undertaken for a University of Oxford doctoral dissertation. I am grateful to Professor Jerome Bruner, Dr Gillian Cohen and Dr Andrew Meltzoff for helpful discussions and criticism. Author's address: Department of Applied Psychology, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 252 Bloor St. W., Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

References

REFERENCES

Bloom, L. (1973). One word at a time: the use of single-word utterances before syntax. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Bower, T. G. (1974). Development in infancy. San Francisco: Freeman.Google Scholar
Bower, T. G. (1979). Human development. San Francisco: Freeman.Google Scholar
Bowerman, M. (1978). The acquisition of word meanings: an investigation of some current conflicts. In Waterson, N. & Snow, C. (eds), Development of communication: social and pragmatic factors in language acquisition. London: Wiley.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. S. (1966). On cognitive growth. In Bruner, J., Olver, R. & Greenfield, P. (eds), Studies in cognitive growth. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. S. (1973). The organisation of early skilled action. ChDev 44. 1–11.Google ScholarPubMed
Clark, E. (1974). Some aspects of the conceptual basis for first language acquisition. In Schiefelbusch, R. & Lloyd, L. (eds), Language perspectives: acquisition, retardation and intervention. Baltimore: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Gopnik, A. (1980). The development of non-nominal expressions in one to two year old children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Oxford University.Google Scholar
Gopnik, A. (1981). xycThe development of non-nominal expressions: why the first words aren't about things. In Ingram, D. & Dale, P. (eds), Child language; an international perspective. Baltimore: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Greenfield, P. & Smith, J. (1976). Communication and the beginnings of language: the development of semantic structure in one-word speech and beyond. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. (1975). Learning how to mean: explorations in the development of language. London: Edward Arnold.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koslowski, B. & Bruner, S. (1972). Learning to use a lever. ChDev 43. 790–9.Google ScholarPubMed
Lipsitt, L. P. (1969). Learning capacities of the human infant. In Robinson, R. J. (ed.), Brain and early behaviour. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Lipsitt, L. P. & Kaye, H. (1964). Conditioned sucking in the human newborn. PsychonScience 1. 29–30.Google Scholar
MacShane, J. (1980). Learning to talk. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Monnier, C. (1977). La genèse de l'expérimentation. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Free University of Brussels, cited in Bower 1979.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1973). Structure and strategy in learning to talk. Mongr.Soc.Res.Ch.Dev. 38, Nos. 1–2.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1974). Concept, word and sentence: interrelations in acquisition and development. PsychRev 81. 267–85.Google Scholar
Papousek, H. (1969). Individual variability in learned responses in human infants. In Robinson, R. (ed.), Brain and early behaviour. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1953). The origins of intelligence in the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1954). The child's construction of reality. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piaget, J. (1962). Play, dreams and imitation in childhood. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Sinclair, H. (1973). Language acquisition and cognitive development. In Moore, T. E. (ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar