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

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.