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Acquisition of locative meanings: behind and in front of

ABSTRACT Studies of locatives suggest regularities in order and age of acquisition, including systematic changes in context of use for behind and in front of. The present investigation extends earlier work by utilizing more naturalistic elicitation procedures and exploring an early use of behind and in front of with large reference objects. Thirty-three children, ages 2; 7 to 4; 7, told puppets where to look for missing objects. Results indicate an order of acquisition for English locatives which is consistent with prior reports. However, the puppet story method elicited given locatives at younger ages, and the first uses of behind occurred with large, non-featured reference objects. The patterns of use for behind and in front of suggest an acquisition process in which new conceptual resources lead to the re-analysis of object configurations and thus to new aspects of meaning.