Is there a natural order for expressing semantic relations?
L Gershkoff-Stowe, S Goldin-Medow - Cognitive psychology, 2002 - Elsevier
All languages rely to some extent on word order to signal relational information. Why? We
address this question by exploring communicative and cognitive factors that could lead to a
reliance on word order. In Study 1, adults were asked to describe scenes to another using
their hands and not their mouths. The question was whether this home-made “language”
would contain gesture sentences with consistent order. In addition, we asked whether
reliance on order would be influenced by three communicative factors (whether the …
address this question by exploring communicative and cognitive factors that could lead to a
reliance on word order. In Study 1, adults were asked to describe scenes to another using
their hands and not their mouths. The question was whether this home-made “language”
would contain gesture sentences with consistent order. In addition, we asked whether
reliance on order would be influenced by three communicative factors (whether the …