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The acquisition of time talk: relations between child and adult grammars*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Carlota S. Smith
Carlota S. Smith
Affiliation:
University of Texas
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Abstract

A Reichenbach-type theory is proposed that accounts for a child's early system of temporal reference and relates it directly to the adult system. This theory makes predictions different from those of a competing theory, a strong decentring hypothesis. Experimental results and data from spontaneous speech are examined, and the predictions of the first theory are borne out: young English-speaking children express notions of temporal ordering as well as aspectual notions.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , June 1980 , pp. 263 - 278
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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Footnotes

[*]

Address for correspondence: Department of Linguistics, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 USA.

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