Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:11:40.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chinese preschoolers’ acquisition of temporal adverbs indicating past, present, and future: a corpus-based study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2019

Lu Yao LIANG Open the ORCID record for Lu Yao LIANG [Opens in a new window] ,
Dandan WU  and
Hui LI
Lu Yao LIANG*
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Studies, Macquarie University, Australia
Dandan WU
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Studies, Macquarie University, Australia
Hui LI
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Studies, Macquarie University, Australia
*
*Corresponding author: Department of Educational Studies, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia. E-mail: llykklouie@outlook.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study investigated the development of temporal adverbs in early childhood Mandarin. All cases of temporal adverbs indicating the past, present, and future were extracted from the Early Child Mandarin Corpus (168 children in four age groups: 2;6, 3;6, 4;6, 5;6). Data analyses indicated: (1) Mandarin-speaking children produced a repertoire of 21 types of temporal adverbs, and the children in the first age group (M = 2;6) were capable of using temporal adverbs to denote past, present, and future events; (2) within each age group, the children produced significantly more future temporal adverbs than the other two subtypes; and (3) there was a significant age effect that, with increased age, more children were able to produce all subtypes of temporal adverbs. Overall, findings of this corpus-based investigation shed light upon Chinese children's early-attained ability to express the three fundamental notions of time by resorting to the appropriate linguistic devices.

Keywords

corpus-based studypreschool childrenMandarin Chinesetemporal adverbstemporal expression
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , July 2019 , pp. 760 - 784
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ames, L. B. (1946). The development of the sense of time in the young child. Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology, 68(1), 97–125.Google Scholar
Atance, C. M., & O'Neill, D. K. (2005). The emergence of episodic future thinking in humans. Learning and Motivation, 36(2), 126–44.Google Scholar
Bi, H. Y., & Peng, D. L. (2002). Experiment on the comprehensive ability and strategies about three kinds of time adverb of 4–6-year-old children. Psychological Development and Education, 4, 22–5 [In Chinese: 毕鸿艳, & 彭冉玲. 4–6 岁儿童三种时间副词理解能力及策略的实验研究[J]. 心理发展与教育, 2002, 4: 22–25].Google Scholar
Bi, H. Y., & Peng, D. L. (2004). A study on the comprehensive ability and strategies about three kinds of time adverbs of 6–8-year-old children. Psychological Science, 27(1), 69–71 [In Chinese: 毕鸿艳, & 彭冉玲. 6–8 岁儿童三种时间副词理解能力及策略的实验研究[J]. 心理科学, 2004, 27(1): 69–71].Google Scholar
Chang, C. J. (1998). The development of autonomy in preschool Mandarin Chinese-speaking children's play narratives. Narrative Inquiry, 8(1), 77–111.Google Scholar
Chang, C. J. (2004). Telling stories of experiences: narrative development of young Chinese children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 25(1), 83–104.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Droit-Volet, S. (2016). Development of time. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 8, 102–9.Google Scholar
Erbaugh, M. (1982). Coming to order: natural selection and the origin of syntax in the Mandarin speaking child (Doctoral dissertation). University of California, Berkeley, CA.Google Scholar
Erbaugh, M. (1992). The acquisition of Mandarin. In Slobin, D. I. (Ed.), The crosslinguisitc study of language acquisition (Vol. 3, pp. 373–455). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Fivush, R., Gray, J. T., & Fromhoff, F. A. (1987). Two-year-old talk about the past. Cognitive Development, 2(4), 393–409.Google Scholar
Fu, M. Y. (2002). Adverbs of child language (Master's thesis). Anhui Normal University, Anhui, China [In Chinese: 傅满义. 儿童语言中的副词[D]. 安徽师范大学: 硕士学位论文, 2002].Google Scholar
Gee, J., & Savasir, I. (1985). On the use of will and gonna: toward a description of activity-types for child language. Discourse Processes, 8(2), 143–75.Google Scholar
Grant, J. B., & Suddendorf, T. (2011). Production of temporal terms by 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 26(1), 87–95.Google Scholar
Huang, C. C. (2003). Mandarin temporality inference in child, maternal and adult speech. First Language, 23(2), 147–69.Google Scholar
Huang, R., & Huang, C. L. (2011). A preliminary study on language time quantity expression of children aged 1–5. Journal of Shenyang College of Education, 13(2), 91–4 [In Chinese: 黄荣, &黄春林. 1–5 岁儿童语言中的时量表达初探[J]. 沈阳教育学院院报, 2011, 13(2): 91–94].Google Scholar
Hudson, J. A., & Mayhew, E. M. (2011). Children's temporal judgments for autobiographical past and future events. Cognitive Development, 26(4), 331–42.Google Scholar
Li, H., & Tse, S. K. (2011). The Early Child Mandarin Corpus. University of Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Li, J. X. (1956). New Chinese grammar (23rd ed.). Beijing: Commercial Press [In Chinese: 黎锦熙. 新著国语文法[M]. 北京: 商务印书馆, 1956].Google Scholar
Li, P., & Bowerman, M. (1998). The acquisition of lexical and grammatical aspect in Chinese. First Language, 18(54), 311–50.Google Scholar
Li, P., & Shirai, Y. (2000). The acquisition of lexical and grammatical aspect. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Li, Q. (1996a). The adverbs and its classification. In Hu, M. Y. (Ed.), An investigation of classification of lexicon (pp. 364–90). Beijing Language and Culture University Press [In Chinese: 李泉. 副词和副词再分类 [A] 词类问题考察[C]. 北京: 北京语言学院出版社, 1996: 364–390].Google Scholar
Li, S, H. (1996b). The classification of temporal adverbs in modern Chinese. Journal of Jingzhou Teachers College, 4, 70–4 [In Chinese: 李少华. 现代汉语时间副词的分类描写[J]. 荆州师专学报, 1996, 4: 70–74].Google Scholar
Li, W. (2012). Temporal and aspectual references in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Pragmatics, 44(14), 2045–66.Google Scholar
Lin, J. (2003a). Selectional restrictions of tenses and temporal reference of Chinese bare sentences. Lingua, 113(3), 271–302.Google Scholar
Lin, J. (2003b). Temporal reference in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 12(3), 259–311.Google Scholar
Lu, J, , M. & Ma, Z. (1985). A discussion of function words in modern Chinese. Beijing: Beijing Language Press [In Chinese: 陆俭明, & 马真. 现代汉语虚词散论[M]. 北京：北京语文出版社, 1985].Google Scholar
Lv, S, , X. (1980). Eight hundred words of modern Chinese. Beijing: Commercial Press [In Chinese: 吕叔湘. 现代汉语八百词[M]. 北京商务印书馆, 1980].Google Scholar
Ma, J. (2010). The research of time adverbs and ‘time adverbs + (de) + X’ construction in modern Chinese (Master's thesis). Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China [In Chinese: 马婧. 现代汉语时间副词界定及其定语用法研究[D]. 暨南大学: 硕士学位论文, 2010].Google Scholar
McCormack, T., & Hoerl, C. (2008). Temporal decentering and the development of temporal concepts. Language Learning, 58(s1), 89–113.Google Scholar
Mi, D. (2014). A study concerning the acquisition of temporal adverbs of frequency. Youth Literator, 6, 111–12 [In Chinese: 米迪. 关于频度副词的习得研究[J]. 青年文学家, 2014, 6: 111–112].Google Scholar
Na, H. L. (2017). Temporal frequency adverbs used in conjunction with the co-occurrence sequence and the expression effect. Overseas Chinese Education, 8, 1093–103 [In Chinese: 那洪雷. 时间频率副词连用共现顺序及表达效果[J]. 海外华文教育, 2017, 8: 1093–1103].Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (Ed.) (1989). Narratives from the crib. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Pawlak, A., Oehlrich, J., & Weist, R. (2006). Reference time in child English and Polish. First Language, 26(3), 281–97.Google Scholar
Qian, N. R. (1990). Modern Chinese. Beijing: Higher Education Press [In Chinese: 钱乃荣. 现代汉语 [M]. 北京: 高等教育出版社, 1990].Google Scholar
Qiu, Y., & Zhou, X. (2012). Processing temporal agreement in a tenseless language: an ERP study of Mandarin Chinese. Brain Research, 1446, 91–108.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R. (2015). Acquiring temporal meanings without tense morphology: the case of L2 Mandarin Chinese. Modern Language Journal, 99(2), 283–307.Google Scholar
Stephany, U. (1981). Verbal grammar in modern Greek early child language. In Dale, P. S. & Ingram, D. (Eds.), Child language: an international perspective (pp. 45–57) Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Swift, M. D. (2004). Time in child Inuktitut: a developmental study of an Eskimo-Aleut language (Vol. 24). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Syrett, K., Arunachalam, S., & Waxman, S. R. (2014). Slowly but surely: adverbs support verb learning in 2-year-olds. Language Learning and Development, 10(3), 263–78.Google Scholar
Tse, S. K., Li, H., & Leung, S. O. (2012). Tense and temporality: how young children express time in Cantonese. Chinese Language and Discourse, 3(1), 35–56.Google Scholar
Wang, K. (2017). The summary review of the studies of Chinese adverbs. Journal of Xihua University (Philosophy & Social Sciences), 36(4), 43–51 [In Chinese: 王坤. 汉语副词研究综述[J]. 西华大学学报(哲学社会科学版), 2017, 36(4): 43–51].Google Scholar
Wang, X. J. (2012). A study on post-positioned adverbs in Modern Chinese. Journal of Simao Teachers’ College, 27(1), 74–7 [In Chinese: 现代汉语副词后置现象初探[J]. 思茅师范高等专科学校学报, 2012, 27(1): 74–77].Google Scholar
Weist, R. M. (1986). Tense and aspect. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M. (Eds.), Language acquisition (pp. 356–74). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Weist, R. M. (2014a). Developing temporal systems. Psychology of Language and Communication, 18(2), 126–42.Google Scholar
Weist, R. M. (2014b). Future temporal reference in child language. In De Brabanter, P., Kissine, M., & Sharifzadeh, S. (Eds.), Future times, future tenses (pp. 87–113). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Weist, R. M., & Buczowska, E. (1987). The emergence of temporal adverbs in child Polish. First Language, 7(21), 217–29.Google Scholar
Weist, R. M., Lyytinen, P., Wysocka, J., & Atanassova, M. (1997). The interaction of language and thought in children's language acquisition: a cross-linguistic study. Journal of Child Language, 24(1), 81–121.Google Scholar
Weist, R. M., Pawlak, A., & Carapella, J. (2004). Syntactic–semantic interface in the acquisition of verb morphology. Journal of Child Language, 31(1), 31–60.Google Scholar
Weist, R. M., & Zevenbergen, A. (2008). Autobiographical memory and past time reference. Language Learning and Development, 4(4), 291–308.Google Scholar
Zhang, Y. J. (2002). Adverbs and their function of restriction and description. Hefei: Education Press of Anhui [In Chinese: 张亚军. 副词与限定描状功能[M]. 合肥：安徽教育出版社, 2002].Google Scholar
Zhang, Y. J. (2006). A study of time adverbs in modern Chinese (Master's thesis). Sichuan University, Chengdu, China [In Chinese: 张言军. 现代汉语时间副词研究[D]. 四川大学: 硕士学位论文, 2006].Google Scholar
Zhang, Y. S. (2000). A study of adverbs in modern Chinese. Shanghai: Academia Press [In Chinese: 张谊生. 现代汉语副词研究[M]. 上海：学林出版社, 2000].Google Scholar
Zhang, Y. S. (2004). An investigation of adverbs in modern Chinese. Shanghai: Academia Press [In Chinese: 张谊生. 现代汉语副词探索[M]. 上海：学林出版社, 2004].Google Scholar
Zhen, J., & Chen, G. P. (1995). Preschool children's understanding and application of Chinese adverbs. Psychological Science, 18(3), 158–61 [In Chinese: 郑静, & 陈国鹏. 学前儿童对汉语副词的理解和运用[J]. 心理科学, 1995, 18(3): 158–161].Google Scholar
Zhou, G. G. (2004). An investigation of the acquisition of Chinese time system. Applied Linguistics, 4, 33–40 [In Chinese: 周国光. 汉语时间系统习得状况的考察[J]. 语言文字应用, 2004, 4: 33–40].Google Scholar
Zhu, M. S., Wu, J. Z., Ying, H. C., Zhu, L. M., & Zhuang, X. J. (1982). Children's comprehension of several kinds of temporal words in sentences. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 3, 294–301[In Chinese: 朱曼殊等. 儿童对几种时间词句的理解[J]. 心理学报, 1982, 3: 294–301].Google Scholar