Patterns of acquisition in temporal connectives from a Reichenbachian perspective.

Abstract

Since Clark's (1971) pioneering study, many experiments have been carried out which were designed to tap children's understanding of the temporal connectives before, after, when, and while. Many different patterns have been observed and different explanations have been invoked. In many instances, the reported results appear to be confounded by methodology, such as too great a demand on memory, or unnatural test materials. The present study investigates in particular the implications that a Reichenbachian theory of time may have on understanding children's acquisition of these connectives. This study examines a body of speech data obtained from the CHILDES database in order to determine whether there exist patterns that can shed light on the conflicts found in the experimental literature, with a particular emphasis on motivating Reichenbachian ideas. As well, the data is examined for patterns that suggest whether it is the semantics or the syntax of these connectives that drive their acquisition. All instances of before, after, when, and while were extracted from the speech of four children and their adult interlocutors. Two aspects of the data were focused on for analysis in this study: the frequency of the connectives; throughout the selected files and the preposing of temporal when-clauses. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)