Does learning a language require the child to reconceptualize the world

Sortal concepts, lexicalized as count nouns in languages with a count/mass distinction, pro , criteria for individuation and numerical identity . This paper examines Quine's and Piaget's cla that babies and young children lack the logical resources to represent sortal concepts . Evidence is marshalled against the Quine/Piaget position, in favor of a view that even yo infants represent at least one sortal concept, physical object, which provides spatiotemp4 criteria for individuation and identity . Evidence is also provided that babies below 11 month age may not represent more specific sortals such as cup, animal, bottle, or book . Rather, t may conceptualize these entities in a way closely related to Quine's hypothesis .