Spatial Terms and Spatial Cognition

This book investigates why learning a foreign language locative system is difficult. A developmental view has been taken on in examining the dynamic phenomenon of learning foreign locative terms. Four experiments were conducted. The first three experiments focused on Chinese speakers’ use and learning of English locative prepositions. A supplementary experiment studied English speakers’ use of Chinese locative expressions. Overall results support the role of typicality in spatial relationship being core and initial spatial concept, which is not affected by secondary linguistic factors. First language transfer occurs only when there are semantic or structural ambiguities.