Linguistic Devices for Organizing the Knowledge of the World in the Speech of Six-Year-Old Children

The article shows how six-year-old children use the pattern of equational definition in semantic interpretations of words. Since the semantic definition has two components: the genus proximum and specific difference, the semantic description of a word, using the pattern of classic definition, combines groups of words into ordered sets linked by common similarity, at the same time indicating different elements in each of the sets. Seeking of similarities and differences between objects reflects a general tendency of thinking of the world. The use of this definitional method in the semantic description of words is highly significant because it shows the ability to organize the knowledge of the world.