Aasheim Norås, S. & Vulchanova, M.
Norwegian University of Science & Technology, Trondheim, Norway
To comprehend and apply prepositions correctly in speech is one of many challenges children face during their acquisition process. Two of these prepositions found in Norwegian and English are discussed here: when do Norwegian children comprehend the use of 'on' and 'under' in Norwegian, compared to English children? This study investigated Norwegian children at ages 1;3, 1;6 and 2;0 on their comprehension of typical and atypical 'on' and 'under' situations by applying the preferential-looking paradigm and an eye-tracker. The English data which the Norwegian data will be compared with come from a British study by Kerstin Meints and colleagues; the current Norwegian study is a replication of the British study and results from both investigations will be compared and discussed. The findings indicate that the two prepositions are more or less understood in the same way during the same age stages across the two languages, but that Norwegian children seem to lag behind English children at 2;0; and that this might be due to the complexity of Norwegian 'on'; 'på'.