Monolingual and bilingual children’s understanding of Moore-paradox sentences

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-155
Author(s):  
Krisztina Bartha ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Experimental Philosophy ◽  
Overwhelming Majority ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Central Topic ◽  
Experimental Findings

Research of the theory of mind (ToM) has long been a central topic in cognitive science and experimental philosophy. A preliminary example of a Moore-paradox sentence would be: It is raining, but I don’t think it is. Understanding the paradoxes in these sentences is considered part of ToM development. This study focuses on the recognition of Moore’s paradoxical sentences by monolingual and bilingual children. According to the first hypothesis, comprehension of Moore-paradoxical sentences is estimated to start at the age of 7. The second hypothesis assumes that balanced bilingual children develop the ability to understand Moore-paradoxical sentences earlier than Hungarian dominant bilinguals, and balanced bilinguals also outperform their monolingual peers. Romanian monolingual and Hungarian-Romanian bilingual children aged between 5 and 8 (N = 134) participated in the experiment. Balanced and dominant bilingual groups were established based on a questionnaire filled in by the children’s parents. During the experiment, children had to listen to a number of sentences. Each sentence that contained paradoxical statements had control sentences matching syntactically. Children had to choose the sentences they thought to be “silly”. According to the experimental findings, 5- and 6-year-old children performed poorly while the overwhelming majority of 7- and 8-year-olds could select the Moore-paradoxical sentences. There were differences between the performance of monolingual and balanced bilingual groups and between the two bilingual groups. Balanced bilinguals performed better, and their comprehension of understanding Moorean sentences developed earlier than those of the other groups.

scholarly journals Individual and Cross-Cultural Differences in Semantic Intuitions: New Experimental Findings

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 322-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Beebe ◽  
Ryan Undercoffer
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Experimental Philosophy ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Anchoring Effects ◽  
Semantic Reference ◽  
Experimental Findings ◽  
Epistemic Perspective

In 2004 Edouard Machery, Ron Mallon, Shaun Nichols and Stephen Stich published what has become one of the most widely discussed papers in experimental philosophy, in which they reported that East Asian and Western participants had different intuitions about the semantic reference of proper names. A flurry of criticisms of their work has emerged, and although various replications have been performed, many critics remain unconvinced. We review the current debate over Machery et al.’s (2004) results and take note of which objections to their work have been satisfactorily answered and which ones still need to be addressed. We then report the results of studies that reveal significant cross-cultural and intra-cultural differences in semantic intuitions when we control for variables that critics allege have had a potentially distorting effect on Machery et al.’s findings. These variables include the epistemic perspective from which participants are supposed to understand the research materials, unintended anchoring effects of those materials, and pragmatic factors involved in the interpretation of speech acts within them. Our results confirm the robustness of the cross-cultural differences observed by Machery et al. and thereby strengthen the philosophical challenge they pose.

scholarly journals Do Bilinguals Acquire Similar Words to Monolinguals? An Examination of Word Acquisition and the Similarity Effect in Japanese–English Bilinguals’ Vocabularies

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 168-182
Author(s):  
Aya Kutsuki
Keyword(s):  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Word Category ◽  
Word Acquisition ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Similarity Effect ◽  
Japanese English

Previous research has paid much attention to the overall acquisition of vocabularies among bilingual children in comparison to their monolingual counterparts. Much less attention has been paid to the type of words acquired and the possible transfer or cross-linguistic effects of the other language on vocabulary development. Thus, this study aims to explore similarities and dissimilarities in the vocabularies of simultaneous bilinguals and Japanese monolinguals and considers the possible cross-linguistic similarity effect on word acquisition. Six simultaneous Japanese–English bilingual children (mean age = 34.75 months (2.56)) were language–age-matched with six Japanese monolinguals; their productive vocabularies were compared regarding size and categories. Additionally, characteristic acquired words were compared using correspondence analyses. Results showed that, although delayed due to the reduced inputs, young bilinguals have a similar set of vocabularies in terms of word category as monolinguals. However, bilingual children’s vocabularies reflect their unevenly distributed experience with the language. Fewer interactive experiences with language speakers may result in a lower acquisition of interactive words. Furthermore, there is a cross-linguistic effect on acquisition, likely caused by form similarity between Japanese katakana words and English words. Even between languages with great dissimilarities, resources and cues are sought and used to facilitate bilingual vocabulary acquisition.

Deutsch als schwächere Sprache bei deutsch-polnisch bilingualen Kindern: Studie zur Negation- und Verbstellung

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-297
Author(s):  
Aldona Sopata ◽  
Kamil Długosz
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Language Use ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Striking Difference ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Development Characteristic ◽  
Processing Mechanisms ◽  
Constrained Input

AbstractThis article examines the acquisition of German as the weaker language in the cases of German-Polish bilingual children. Focusing on negation and verb position, phenomena that have frequently been taken as diagnostic when distinguishing between the course of language development characteristic for first (L1) and second language acquisition (L2), we analyse experimental and productive data from six simultaneously bilingual children. Due to the constrained input, German is their weaker language. The results in Forced Choice and Grammaticality Judgements tasks are compared with the results of monolingual children. We show that in the area of negation the acquisition of German as the weaker language resembles L1, and in the area of inversion and verb final position the development of the weaker language is delayed. The striking difference between bilinguals’ results in the experimental vs. productive tasks points to specific processing mechanisms in bilingual language use. In narrative contexts of the production tasks the language of the performance is activated, while the other is inhibited, which leads to a target-like performance. Structural properties of the stronger language tend to be activated, however, in the experimental tasks involving the weaker language, resulting in non-target-like responses.

DESIGN DISCOURSE AND THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE OF DESIGN

2014 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-53
Author(s):  
Jeroen de Ridder
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
The Other ◽  
Significant Progress ◽  
The Past ◽  
The One ◽  
Bare Bones ◽  
Single Focus

Much of Alvin Plantinga’s Where the Conflict Really Lies(2011) will contain few surprises for those who have been following his work over the past decades. This —I hasten to add — is nothing against the book. The fact alone that his ideas on various topics, which have appeared scattered throughout the literature, are now actualized, applied to the debate about the (alleged) conflict between science and religion, and organized into an overarching argument with a single focus makes this book worthwhile. Moreover, I see this book making significant progress on two opposite ends of the spectrum of views about science and religion. On the one end, we find the so-called new atheists and other conflict-mongers. Compared to the overheated rhetoric that oozes from their writings, this book is a breath of fresh air. Plantinga cuts right to the chase and soberly exposes the bare bones of the new atheists’ arguments. It immediately becomes clear how embarrassingly bare these bones really are. On the other end of the spectrum are theologians and scientists who envisage harmony and concord between science and religion.

scholarly journals Concord, convergence and accommodation in bilingual children

2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW RADFORD ◽  
TANJA KUPISCH ◽  
REGINA KÖPPE ◽  
GABRIELE AZZARO
Keyword(s):  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Gender System

This paper examines the syntax of GENDER CONCORD in mixed utterances where bilingual children switch between a modifier in one language and a noun in another. Particular attention is paid to how children deal with potential gender mismatches between modifier and noun, i.e., if one of the languages has grammatical gender but the other does not, or if one of the languages has a ternary gender system and the other a binary one. We show that the English–Italian and French–German bilingual children in our study accommodate the gender properties of the noun to those of its modifiers in such cases, in order to ensure convergence.

Did a Little Birdie Really Tell Odin? Applying Theory of Mind to Old Norse Religion

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 280-308
Author(s):  
Declan Taggart
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Old Norse ◽  
Viking Age ◽  
Cognitive Science Of Religion ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Science Of Religion ◽  
Religious Theory ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Theory of mind, the theory that humans attribute mental states to others, has become increasingly influential in the Cognitive Science of Religion in recent years, due to several papers which posit that supernatural agents, like gods, demons, and the dead, are accredited greater than normal knowledge and awareness. Using Old Norse mythology and literary accounts of Old Norse religion, supported by archaeological evidence, I examine the extent to which this modern perspective on religious theory of mind is reflected in religious traditions from the Viking Age. I focus especially on the extent to which superperception and superknowledge were attributed to Old Norse supernatural agents and the impact of this on expressions of religion; how the attribution of theory of mind varied with circumstances and the agents to which it was being attributed; and the extent to which features of religious theory of mind common in other societies were present in the historical North. On this basis, I also evaluate the usefulness of Old Norse historiography to Cognitive Science of Religion and vice versa.

scholarly journals Interview on Experimental Philosophy with Joshua Knobe

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-28
Author(s):  
Pendaran S. Roberts ◽  
Joshua Knobe ◽  
Pendaran Roberts ◽  
Joshua Knobe
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Experimental Philosophy ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Knobe Effect ◽  
Experimental Philosopher ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaborations ◽  
Conversation Piece

This conversation piece contains an interview with Joshua Knobe. It provides a useful introduction to what experimental philosophy is and the interdisciplinary collaborations it encourages. Pendaran Roberts and Joshua Knobe collaboratively developed this conversation piece via email. Joshua Knobe is a renowned experimental philosopher, who works on a range of philosophical issues, including philosophy of mind, action and ethics. He is a professor in the Program in Cognitive Science and the Department of Philosophy at Yale University. He is most known for what is now called the ‘Knobe effect’.

scholarly journals Vital Energy and Afterlife: Implications for Cognitive Science of Religion

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (61) ◽  
pp. 145-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maira Monteiro Roazzi ◽  
Carl N. Johnson ◽  
Melanie Nyhof ◽  
Silvia Helena Koller ◽  
Antonio Roazzi
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Cognitive Science Of Religion ◽  
Science Of Religion ◽  
Culture And Development ◽  
Supernatural Agency ◽  
Intuitive Theory

Literature investigating people’s concepts of supernatural agency (such as ghosts and deities) points to an intuitive theory of mind underlying such ideas, however, recent studies suggest that intuitive ideas over vital energy could also be involved. The present paper focuses on examining the culture and development of people’s conceptions on vital energy. A search was made using the keyword vital energy targeting literature from Anthropology, Psychology and Cognitive Science. A literature review over this topic was made yielding reflections over the development of vital energy concepts. Results suggest that an intuitive biology, grounded on ideas of biological energy (vital energy), may underlie an understanding of soul, spirit, and supernatural energy. Future empirical studies should target the development of vital energy intuitive theories with different age ranges and cultures.

Theroy of Mind in Non-Verbal Apes: conceptual issues and the critical experiments

2001 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 199-223
Author(s):  
Andrew Whiten
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
The Other ◽  
States Of Mind

It is now over twenty years since Premack and Woodruff (1978) posed the question, ‘Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?’—‘by which we meant’, explained Premack (1988) in a later reappraisal, ‘does the ape do what humans do: attribute states of mind to the other one, and use these states to predict and explain the behaviour of the other one? For example, does the ape wonder, while looking quizzically at another individual, What does he reallywant?What does hebelieve?What are hisintentions?'

Subject omission/production in child bilingual English and child bilingual Spanish: the view from linguistic theory

Probus ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juana M. Liceras ◽  
Raquel Fernández Fuertes
Keyword(s):  
Positive Influence ◽  
Conclusive Evidence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Child Language Acquisition ◽  
Null Subject Parameter ◽  
The One

Abstract In bilingual child language acquisition research, a recurrent learnability issue has been to investigate whether and how cross-linguistic influence would interact with the non-adult patterns of omission/production of functional categories. In this paper, we analyze the omission/production of subject pronouns in the earliest stage English grammar and the earliest stage Spanish grammar of two English–Spanish simultaneous bilingual children (FerFuLice corpus in CHILDES). We base this analysis on Holmberg’s (2005, Is there a little pro? Evidence from Finnish. Linguistic Inquiry 36. 533–564) and Sheehan’s (2006, The EPP and null subjects in Romance. Newcastle: Newcastle University PhD dissertation) formulation of the null subject parameter and on Liceras et al.’s (2012, Overt subjects and copula omission in the Spanish and the English grammar of English-Spanish bilinguals: On the locus and directionality of interlinguistic influence. First Language 32(1–2). 88–115) assumptions concerning the role of lexical specialization in cross-linguistic influence. We have conducted a comparative analysis of the patterns of production/omission of English and Spanish overt and null subjects in two bilingual children, on the one hand, versus the patterns of production/omission of one monolingual English child and one monolingual Spanish child, on the other. The results show that while there is no conclusive evidence as to whether or not English influences the higher production of overt subjects in child bilingual Spanish, the presence of null subjects in Spanish has a positive influence in the eradication of non-adult null subjects in bilingual English. We argue that in a bilingual situation, as compared to a monolingual one, lexical specialization in one of the languages of the bilinguals (the availability of an overt and a null realization of the subject in Spanish) facilitates the acquisition of the other language.

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