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A monolingual mind can have two time lines: Exploring space-time mappings in Mandarin monolinguals
1College of Foreign Studies, Yangzhou University, 196 West Huayang Road, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, 225127, China. stevenjcyang@126.com.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|November 6, 2015
Summary
Mandarin speakers possess two mental timelines, one horizontal and one vertical, irrespective of English bilingualism. This suggests linguistic expressions within Mandarin itself shape temporal cognition, challenging previous bilingualism theories.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Linguistics
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- Previous research suggested bilingualism influences mental time representations.
- Mandarin-English bilinguals were shown to possess both horizontal and vertical time mappings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether Mandarin monolinguals also exhibit dual mental time lines.
- To determine if Mandarin spatiotemporal metaphors, rather than English bilingualism, shape temporal cognition.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments were conducted with Mandarin monolingual participants.
- Cognitive tasks were designed to assess mental time line representations.
Main Results:
- Mandarin monolinguals demonstrated the existence of both horizontal and vertical mental time lines.
- Evidence suggests Mandarin's linguistic structures influence temporal cognition independently of English acquisition.
Conclusions:
- Mandarin speakers possess dual mental time lines due to inherent linguistic features in Mandarin.
- The findings challenge the notion that English bilingualism solely dictates the horizontal concept of time in Mandarin-English bilinguals.
- This highlights the complex interplay between language and thought, particularly concerning bilingualism's cognitive effects.
