English speakers attend more strongly than Spanish speakers to manner of motion when classifying novel objects and events.

Running Head: CLASSIFYING NOVEL OBJECTS AND EVENTS English Speakers Attend More Strongly than Spanish Speakers to Manner of Motion when Classifying Novel Objects and Events

The Effect of Motion Type and Modality in Word Learning in English

Speakers of satellite-framed languages (S-languages such as English) express manner more frequently than speakers of verb-framed languages (V-languages such as Spanish) because Slanguages use "satellite" phrases to encode path, leaving the verb free to encode manner (Talmy, 1985, Slobin, 2004). Gestures have also been shown to follow these cross-linguistic differences. While numerous studies ha...

When English proposes what Greek presupposes: the cross-linguistic encoding of motion events.

How do we talk about events we perceive? And how tight is the connection between linguistic and non-linguistic representations of events? To address these questions, we experimentally compared motion descriptions produced by children and adults in two typologically distinct languages, Greek and English. Our findings confirm a well-known asymmetry between the two languages, such that English spe...

The Adaptability of Language Specific Verb Lexicalization Biases

Languages vary in how they encode motion events. For example, English motion verbs often encode the manner of the motion while Spanish motion verbs encode the path. Efficient verb learning has been argued to involve the acquisition of language specific lexicalization biases. When given a novel verb paired with a single motion event, English speakers interpret it as a manner verb, Spanish speake...

Who dunnit? Cross-linguistic differences in eye-witness memory.

Does eye-witness memory differ depending on the language one speaks? We examined English and Spanish speakers' descriptions of intentional and accidental events, and their memory for the agents of these events. English and Spanish speakers described intentional events similarly, using mostly agentive language (e.g., "She broke the vase"). However, when it came to accidental events English speak...