Title
Developmental Changes in Children's Comprehension and Explanation of Spatial Metaphors for Time
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2013
Abstract
Time is frequently expressed with spatial motion, using one of three different metaphor types: moving-time, moving-ego, and sequence-as-position. Previous work shows that children can understand and explain moving-time metaphors by age five (Özçalışkan, 2005). In this study, we focus on all three metaphor types for time, and ask whether metaphor type has an effect on children's metaphor comprehension and explanation abilities. Analysis of the responses of three- to six-year-old children and adults showed that comprehension and explanation of all three metaphor types emerge at an early age. Moreover, children's metaphor comprehension and explanation vary by metaphor type: children perform better in understanding and explaining metaphors that structure time in relation to the observer of time (moving-ego, moving-time) than metaphors that structure time without any relation to the observer of time (sequence-as-position-on-a-path). Our findings suggest that children's bodily experiences might play a role in their developing understanding of the abstract concept of time.
Recommended Citation
Stites, L. & Özçaliskan, S. (2013). Developmental changes in children's comprehension and explanation of spatial metaphors for time. Journal of Child Language, 40(5), 1123-1137. DOI: 10.1017/S0305000912000384
Comments
This article was originally published in the Journal of Child Language. Copyright © 2012 Cambridge University Press.
The version of record is available here with the permission of the author.