Today, Tomorrow, and Overmorrow: The Acquisition of Deictic Temporal Terms in English and German
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View abstract on PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.German-speaking children show a better understanding of temporal words, especially those with greater distance from the present, like "day after tomorrow." This suggests a richer lexicon aids early learning of time concepts.
Area Of Science
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistic Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background
- Languages differ in their temporal lexicons; German has specific words for
- day before yesterday
- and
- day after tomorrow
- (vorgestern, übermorgen), unlike English.
- Children's acquisition of temporal language is a complex process influenced by linguistic input.
Purpose Of The Study
- To investigate how differences in temporal word sets between English and German influence children's learning of time concepts.
- To compare the understanding of temporal remoteness, sequential ordering, and past/future status in English- and German-speaking children.
Main Methods
- A comparative study involving 304 English- and German-speaking children (ages 3-7) and 75 adult controls.
- Two tasks assessing temporal term knowledge using a continuous timeline and a discontinuous calendar.
- Assessment of three facets of time meaning: past/future status, sequential ordering, and temporal remoteness.
Main Results
- German-speaking children demonstrated a more precise understanding of temporal terms, particularly those unique to German (e.g., übermorgen).
- This advantage was mainly driven by a better grasp of temporal remoteness (distance from the present).
- No significant language-group differences were found in understanding the past/future status of time words.
Conclusions
- Children acquire time-word meanings gradually, utilizing distinct linguistic cues for different semantic aspects.
- A more extensive temporal lexicon, as in German, may facilitate earlier and more precise understanding of temporal concepts like 'yesterday' and 'tomorrow'.
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