A cross-linguistic perspective on the development of temporal systems

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the development of temporal location within a cross-linguistic experimental design. The research focused on the transition from a temporal system based on absolute temporal relations involving speech time and event time to a more complex system involving...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of child language 1991-02, Vol.18 (1), p.67-92
Main Authors: Weist, Richard M., Wysocka, Hanna, Lyytinen, Paula
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adverbs
Child
Child Language
Child, Preschool
Communication disorders
Cross-Cultural Comparison
English
Finland
Finnish
Humans
Language Development
Language Research
Language Tests
Linguistics
Poland
Polish
Tenses (Grammar)
Testing
Time Factors
Time Perspective
Uncommonly Taught Languages
United States
Young Children
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Summary:The purpose of this research was to evaluate the development of temporal location within a cross-linguistic experimental design. The research focused on the transition from a temporal system based on absolute temporal relations involving speech time and event time to a more complex system involving relative temporal relationships and reference time. A comprehension test was constructed with problems which were diagnostic of two salient distinctions within each of three temporal systems. The procedure was based on a two-choice sentence–picture matching task. The children who participated were from Poland, the USA and Finland, and there were 12 children at each of the following age levels: 2;6, 3;6, 4;6, 5;6, and 6;6. The Polish and American children solved problems requiring absolute temporal location at 2;6, and the older children eventually solved most of the problems requiring relative location. The Finnish children followed a different pattern taking longer to comprehend both types of problems. A second experiment confirmed the Finnish pattern of development. The results of the comprehension test were compared to observations of conversational and narrative discourse which were the product of two elicitation procedures. The research demonstrates the way in which conceptual development places a universal constraint on the developmental process and how the specific properties of individual languages also have an effect.
ISSN:0305-0009
1469-7602
DOI:10.1017/S0305000900013301