Skip to main content
Log in

Six-year-old children's understanding of sentences adjoined with time adverbs

  • Published:
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The adjoining of clauses with temporal links is the basis for many sentences that convey sequence of events. The present study attempts to delineate 6-year-old children's (N=30) understanding of the meaning sequences imparted by sentences adjoined with “after”, “before”, and “until”. Their performance of the meaning sequence for each of 24 carefully constructed sentences is compared to an adult model. Analysis of the results (using a Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Signed Rank Test) indicated that: (1)Ss understood sentences adjoined with “after” according to an adult model more frequently than “before” adjoined sentences (P<0.01); (b) “Until” adjoined sentences with a negative marker in the main clause were understood according to an adult model more often than “until” adjoined sentences with no such negative element, but the difference was not significant at a=0.01; (3)Ss understood “before” adjoined sentences according to an adult model more often than “until” adjoined sentences, but the difference was not significant at a=0.01. In general, the results indicated that 6-year-olds have not yet completed development of an “adult grammar” with respect to adjoining clauses with temporal links, “after”, “before”, and “until”.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ames, L. B. (1946). The development of the sense of time in the young child.J. Genet. Psychol. 68: 97–125.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrie, S. C. (1971a). Children's understanding of sentences adjoined with temporal links: when, while, after, and until. Unpublished manuscript, University of North Carolina.

  • Barrie, S. C. (1971b). Investigation of two processes in language development through a test of auditory-syntactical-sequential memory. Paper presented at the conference of the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities, Chicago, March, 1971.

  • Clark, E. (1971). On the acquisition of the meaning of before and after.J. Verb. Learn. Verb. Behav. 10: 266–275.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, C. V., Bellugi, U., and Brown, R. (1963). Control of grammar in imitation, comprehension and production.J. Verb. Learn. Verb. Behav. 2:121–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, D. (1971). The Dolch List Re-examined.Reading Teacher 24(5): 449–459.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kilma, E. (1964). Negation in English. In Fodor, J. A., and Katz, J. S. (eds.),The Structure of Language. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., pp. 292–293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lackner, J. (1968). A developmental study of language behavior in retarded children.Neuropsychologia 6: 301–320.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J. (1971). Sentence imitation in pre-school children. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Communicative Disorders, University of Wisconsin.

  • Slobin, D. I., and Welsh, C. (1968). Elicited imitation as a research tool in developmental psycholinguistics. Working paper no. 10, Language-Behavioral Research Laboratory, University of California.

  • Turner, E., and Rommetveit, R. (1967). The acquisition of sentence voice and reversibility.Child Devel. 38: 649–660.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Barrie-Blackley, S. Six-year-old children's understanding of sentences adjoined with time adverbs. J Psycholinguist Res 2, 153–165 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067208

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067208

Keywords

Navigation