Several questions remain unanswered on the relationship between cognitive development and language. The Piagetian position, emphasizing the dominant role of cognitive growth, rests heavily on some experimental work of Sinclair-de-Zwart. There are theoretical and methodological problems associated with Sinclair's studies and the present article reports on some work in progress on a clarification of these issues. In particular it examines the relationship between conservation of length and the knowledge of relevant comparative dimensional adjectives. A tentative conclusion is that the Piagetian contention is ‘not proven’ and a great deal of further investigation is necessary. Some possible educational implications are suggested.
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