Linguistic Relativity and Spatial Concept Development in Nepal

Abstract

Reports the results of a study done in a mountainous region of Nepal on a sample of 144, 6–14 year old boys and girls, schooled and unschooled. A variety of tasks was selected for the analysis of language children use for describing space and for the assessment of spatial encoding and cognitive performance on spatial developmental tasks. The results confirm that the language people use to describe spatial arrays is linked to the way in which they orient themselves in the environment. The age trends in language development indicate a change from intrinsic and projective to geocentric references, with almost no use of egocentric terms, while the encoding of spatial arrays is predominantly absolute (age changes being task specific). Overall, spatial cognitive development is quite independent of spatial encoding, but shows some statistically significant relations to the use of geocentric language.