The development of relational language during early childhood: Comprehension and production of cardinal, ordinal, and spatial labels

The goal was to specify the developmental trajectory of cardinal, ordinal, and spatial relational language comprehension and production. One hundred sixty-four 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old English-speaking children viewed a row of toy cars and were asked to place the appropriate car(s) into a toy garage based on the label provided (Give Me) or to produce the correct label for the specified car(s) (Tell Me). Children were tested using cardinal (one, three, five), ordinal (first, third, fifth), and spatial (front, middle, back) labels. Language performance improved with age, especially for spatial labels. Language performance was more accurate for cardinal labels than for spatial and ordinal labels. Performance was quite accurate for cardinal labels regardless of condition, whereas comprehension was higher than production for spatial and ordinal labels.