Locative prepositions in language acquisition and aphasia

Leikin's (1996) model of the system of locative meanings expressed by prepositions in Russian, constructed as an inclusional hierarchy of semantic distinctive features, is applied to a comparative analysis of prepositional substitutions found in Leikin's previous studies of two populations, normally developing preschool children & adult aphasic patients (N = 88 & 46 respectively). Both groups performed tasks of spatial manipulation in verbal & nonverbal contexts & verbal tasks of repetition, comprehension, & naming that involved prepositions denoting six types of locative relationship & corresponding to English in, on, under, above, in front of, & behind. Results show that the acquisition of prepositions continues for a considerable portion of childhood after their initial appearance & that a degree of adult linguistic competence in this area is preserved in aphasia, as patients' errors did not conform to a regression to childhood linguistic competence