MQ SAFETY NET: How children use language to categorise the world: The case of possession

The project investigates how child language learners acquire the linguistic structures that refer to cognitive categories associated with possession in two typologically distinct languages: English and Mandarin. The project will determine how children acquire possessive meanings and when they begin using structures in which one possessive phrase is embedded inside another one (e.g., Elmo's sister's ball). The outcomes of the proposed studies will help adjudicate between the two main approaches to language acquisition: the biolinguistic approach and the usage-based approach. Documenting the language-cognition mapping in typically developing children will provide needed guidance for interventions in children with language impairment.