Interpretation of Imperfective Past Tense in Spanish: How Do Child and Adult Language Varieties Differ?
Some studies on the L1 acquisition of aspect in various child languages have discovered that imperfective aspect is acquired later than perfective aspect, whereas others find early adult-like performance. A variety of explanations has been advanced, particularly problems (i) with the semantics of im...
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MDPI AG
2022-09-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/7/3/237 |
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| author | Isabel García-del-Real Angeliek van Hout |
| author_facet | Isabel García-del-Real Angeliek van Hout |
| author_sort | Isabel García-del-Real |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Some studies on the L1 acquisition of aspect in various child languages have discovered that imperfective aspect is acquired later than perfective aspect, whereas others find early adult-like performance. A variety of explanations has been advanced, particularly problems (i) with the semantics of imperfective aspect in combination with telic predicates, (ii) inferring the intended temporal antecedent in a discourse, and (iii) reasoning about an agent’s intentions to complete the event when observing a situation of an event in progress. The current study aimed to disentangle which of the purported explanations can best explain the acquisition patterns. Twenty-three Spanish monolingual children (mean age 5;11) and 17 adults were presented with telic sentences with one of two aspectual tenses in Spanish (<i>pretérito indefinido</i> and <i>pretérito imperfecto</i>). Using a picture-selection task and presenting the sentences either in a narrative setting or in a non-narrative setting, participants were prompted to choose between complete, ongoing, and incomplete situations. In the non-narrative setting children’s interpretation of <i>imperfecto</i> was adult-like, but in the narrative setting it was not. The target-like interpretation in the non-narrative setting reveals that the semantics of <i>imperfecto</i> in telic-imperfective sentences has been acquired (contra explanation i). Furthermore, Spanish five-year-olds did not depend on cues for agent intentionality when interpreting the <i>imperfecto</i> (contra explanation iii). The discrepancy between narrative and non-narrative setting suggests the challenge lies in discourse integration (supporting explanation ii). |
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| id | doaj.art-75868653a81c4e1bb74b6b9650163a9e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T23:24:30Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-75868653a81c4e1bb74b6b9650163a9e2023-11-23T17:21:29ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2022-09-017323710.3390/languages7030237Interpretation of Imperfective Past Tense in Spanish: How Do Child and Adult Language Varieties Differ?Isabel García-del-Real0Angeliek van Hout1Department of Human Sciences and Education, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, SpainCenter for Language & Cognition Groningen, University of Groningen, 9700 AS Groningen, The NetherlandsSome studies on the L1 acquisition of aspect in various child languages have discovered that imperfective aspect is acquired later than perfective aspect, whereas others find early adult-like performance. A variety of explanations has been advanced, particularly problems (i) with the semantics of imperfective aspect in combination with telic predicates, (ii) inferring the intended temporal antecedent in a discourse, and (iii) reasoning about an agent’s intentions to complete the event when observing a situation of an event in progress. The current study aimed to disentangle which of the purported explanations can best explain the acquisition patterns. Twenty-three Spanish monolingual children (mean age 5;11) and 17 adults were presented with telic sentences with one of two aspectual tenses in Spanish (<i>pretérito indefinido</i> and <i>pretérito imperfecto</i>). Using a picture-selection task and presenting the sentences either in a narrative setting or in a non-narrative setting, participants were prompted to choose between complete, ongoing, and incomplete situations. In the non-narrative setting children’s interpretation of <i>imperfecto</i> was adult-like, but in the narrative setting it was not. The target-like interpretation in the non-narrative setting reveals that the semantics of <i>imperfecto</i> in telic-imperfective sentences has been acquired (contra explanation i). Furthermore, Spanish five-year-olds did not depend on cues for agent intentionality when interpreting the <i>imperfecto</i> (contra explanation iii). The discrepancy between narrative and non-narrative setting suggests the challenge lies in discourse integration (supporting explanation ii).https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/7/3/237child languagefirst language acquisitiongrammatical aspectimperfective aspectSpanish <i>préterito imperfecto</i><i>préterito indefinido</i> |
| spellingShingle | Isabel García-del-Real Angeliek van Hout Interpretation of Imperfective Past Tense in Spanish: How Do Child and Adult Language Varieties Differ? Languages child language first language acquisition grammatical aspect imperfective aspect Spanish <i>préterito imperfecto</i> <i>préterito indefinido</i> |
| title | Interpretation of Imperfective Past Tense in Spanish: How Do Child and Adult Language Varieties Differ? |
| title_full | Interpretation of Imperfective Past Tense in Spanish: How Do Child and Adult Language Varieties Differ? |
| title_fullStr | Interpretation of Imperfective Past Tense in Spanish: How Do Child and Adult Language Varieties Differ? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Interpretation of Imperfective Past Tense in Spanish: How Do Child and Adult Language Varieties Differ? |
| title_short | Interpretation of Imperfective Past Tense in Spanish: How Do Child and Adult Language Varieties Differ? |
| title_sort | interpretation of imperfective past tense in spanish how do child and adult language varieties differ |
| topic | child language first language acquisition grammatical aspect imperfective aspect Spanish <i>préterito imperfecto</i> <i>préterito indefinido</i> |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/7/3/237 |
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