Emerging temporality: past tense and temporal/aspectual markers in Spanish-speaking children's intra-conversational narratives

Abstract

This study describes how young Spanish-speaking children become gradually more adept at encoding temporality using grammar and discourse skills in intra-conversational narratives. The research involved parallel case studies of two Spanish-speaking children followed longitudinally from ages two to three. Type/token frequencies of verb tense, temporal/aspectual markers and narrative components were analyzed to explore interrelationships among grammatical and discourse skills. Children progressed from scattered unsystematic means of encoding temporality to mastering a basic linguistic system that included devices to mark location of events, temporal relations and aspectual meanings. The consolidation of perfective past tense to express narrative events marked a crucial developmental point which preceded an explosion of additional verb tenses and temporal markers. The value of spontaneous language data, and the need to study grammar and discourse simultaneously to construct a comprehensive developmental picture are highlighted. Results are discussed in relation to theoretical proposals on the development of temporality.

Children's Early Decontextualized Talk Predicts Academic Language Proficiency in Midadolescence

“…In these conversations, communication relies heavily on the physical environment, such that production and comprehension are only partially accomplished via language per se, and communication also relies on pointing and other gestures as well as other nonverbal cues supported by the surrounding physical environment. However, at around age 2, children begin to make their first forays into the nonpresent as they start to participate in the co construction of narratives about past events, anticipations of future events, explanations, and pretend play with the help of more expert speakers who are typically their parents (Hemphill & Snow, ; Nelson, ; Sachs, ; Uccelli, ). In these decontextualized conversations, language needs to be used as its own context.…”

Narrativas compartidas en el hogar: Un estudio longitudinal de la estructura y el lenguaje evaluativo

“…Se analizaron narrativas ficcionales constituidas por la lectura del cuento ilustrado y narrativas no ficcionales sobre eventos pasados y futuros producidas en colaboración por los niños y sus madres (en algunos casos, estuvieron presentes también los hermanos y los padres de los niños). Para la identificación de las narrativas en las conversaciones en torno a eventos pasados y futuros se consideró a la narración como dos o más emisiones contiguas y temáticamente relacionadas, referidas a dos componentes cualesquiera de un evento desplazado en el tiempo pasado o futuro (Uccelli, 2009).…”

Factors reflecting children’s use of temporal terms as a function of social group

“…A growing body of research has suggested that many features of children's language development are linked to their linguistic experience (Bloom, Paradis, Sorenson & Duncan 2012;Fernald, Marchman & Weisleder 2013;Hart & Risley 1995;Hoff 2006;Hurtado, Marchman & Fernald 2008;Kern & Dos Santos 2011;Küntay & Slobin 2002;Lieven 2010;Tomasello 2003;Veneziano & Parisse 2010;Weisleder & Fernald 2011;Weizman & Snow 2001). In particular, some of these studies have demonstrated the importance of certain qualitative and quantitative input characteristics to children's lexical development, based on natural patterns of discourse and interaction.…”