Generics and habituality in children’s language – On the development of temporally non-specific expression of time
The study explores the development of temporally non-specific expression of time among Finnish-speaking children aged 2.5–8 years. The data (N = 125 temporally non-specific expressions of time) consists of children’s utterances collected by naturalistic methods and interview. The research method is qualitative: the expressions of time are examined as part of the utterances expressing generic or habitual knowledge, or children’s interactional goals. According to the study, the time expressions that delineate or emphasize generic meanings are easier for children to acquire than habitual frequency expressions. Category formation (concepts of time), social cognition (discursive expressions of time), and event cognition (frequency expressions) were identified as domain-general enablers for the development of temporally non-specific expression of time. The main finding of the study brings forth a new thread to the understanding of the development of children’s expressions of time: The subject children seemed to master the use of those expressions that also conveyed discursive, interaction-driven meanings (aina ‘always’, ikinä ‘ever’) under the age of three years, while expressions with no such discursive meanings (harvoin ‘rarely’) were not acquired until school age.