Language and conceptual development: Words as essence placeholders
Fei Xu a1 a1 Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115
f.xu@neu.edu
Abstract
Perhaps in addition to language being a potential medium of domain-general thought, as suggested by Carruthers, language may also play another role in conceptual development: Words are “essence placeholders.” Evidence is presented from studies on categorization, object individuation, and inductive inference in infancy. The assumption that words are essence placeholders may be a mechanism by which infants acquire kind concepts.
