Ser Helps Spanish Speakers Identify "Real" Properties

We examined the effects of language on developing knowledge of the distinction between "real" and "apparent" properties of objects by comparing the performance of English- and Spanish-speaking monolingual and bilingual children on an appearance-reality task in 3 experiments. In Experiment 1, monolingual English- and Spanish-speaking preschoolers participated in an appearance-reality task in which Spanish speakers heard forms of the Spanish verb ser in place of the English verb "is" in the reality questions and forms of the Spanish verb estar in place of "is" in the appearance questions. Spanish speakers performed reliably better than English speakers on the questions about the real properties of less familiar objects. In Experiment 2, English-Spanish bilingual children participated in the same task used in Experiment 1. They answered half of the questions in English and half in Spanish. Bilinguals identified the real properties of objects reliably better in Spanish than in English, indicating that language can affect the ability to identify real properties. In Experiment 3, we examined the role of language in the ability of monolingual English-speaking 3-year-olds to identify real and apparent properties. These children answered 2 different types of appearance and reality questions, using the same objects from Experiments 1 and 2. Half of the children answered standard appearance-reality questions; the other children answered elaborated versions of the English questions. Children in both conditions performed equivalently, suggesting that English-speaking children are not easily influenced by language in these tasks. Apparently, the advantage that the Spanish copula, ser, gives speakers of Spanish is important and unique because it cannot easily be instantiated in English.