ABSTRACT
What is the relationship between our cognitive capacity and our ability for language? This is perhaps one of the most interesting questions surrounding the study of language in general, and a crucial one when considering language development in particular. This chapter examines Spanish-speaking children’s learning of the use of the subjunctive mood in relative clauses in relation to their cognitive development. Subjunctive relative clauses in Spanish are used to denote the nonspecific description of a kind, and are used to refer to nonactual entities:
Se imagina un castillo que tenga un dragón y una princesa
‘(She) imagines a castle which has-SUBJ a dragon and a princess’
