Historiography is a growing area of research within the discipline of linguistics, but so far the subfield of clinical linguistics has received virtually no systematic attention. This article attempts to rectify this by tracing the development of the discipline from its pre-scientific days up to the present time. As part of this, I include the…

This article examines how speakers of Kam Muang in Northern Thailand draw on distinct temporalities (the slow paced, long-term historical temporality of "longue duree"; the medium paced, autobiographical temporality of intermediate time frames; and the fast-paced, immediate temporality of the "courte duree") to conceptualize…

This article has two purposes. At the theoretical level it is intended to contribute to debates about how learning happens over time. At the methodological level it is intended to suggest how a complex understanding of time can enrich both ethnographic methods and linguistic analysis. It uses the concept of timescapes to interpret ethnographic and…

In the position article to this volume, Klein outlines a set of questions that are relevant for furthering the linguist's understanding of what the cognitive and neural prerequisites for time in language might be. He also declares a certain skepticism regarding the likelihood that new methods from other disciplines will provide answers to those…

This article investigates how linguistic expressions of time--in particular, temporal adverbs and verb tense morphemes--are used to establish temporal reference at the level of brain physiology. First, a formal semantic analysis of tense and temporal adverbs is outlined. It is argued that computing temporal reference amounts to solving a…

McCormack and Hoerl's state of the art review of the development of temporal concepts from the end of infancy to the end of the fifth year shows that young children's conception of time is quite different from that of adults. Adults and 5-year-old children can construe an event from a range of temporal perspectives and can describe it from a…

Three experiments investigated the psychological status of the "ego-moving" and "time-moving" metaphors by asking subjects to carry out temporal inferences stated in terms of spatial metaphors. Results provide evidence that people use spatial metaphors in temporal reasoning. Implications for the status of metaphoric systems are discussed.…

Reports on an experiment designed to identify how contextual information can influence children's performance on an experimental task involving temporal terms. It is concluded that contextual information results in a significant improvement only when such information can be used to satisfy presuppositions. (Author/CB)

Discusses the English grammar rule of backshifting in reported speech, that after a past tense reporting verb the reported verb is backshifted. However, backshifting need not always take place. Examination of numerous examples indicates that the past is the unmarked form; the unbackshifted present is marked, as is the past perfect. (SED)

Examines the temporal reference of Spanish verb forms by using a simple time axis showing five points of temporal reference. (NCR)

Argues that the measures of content and style of maternal talk used by the Murray and Trevarthen (1986) study of temporal patterning during vocal engagements did not directly indicate the ways in which the behaviors of the partners (mothers and infants) were combined on a moment-to-moment basis. (Author/CB)

Evaluated the development of temporal location within a cross-linguistic experimental design. The research focused on the transition from a temporal system based on absolute temporal relations involving speech time and event time to a more complex system involving relative temporal relationships and reference time. (48 references) (JL)

Discusses the production of anomalous sentences by non-native students of the Japanese language and suggests that the primary cause of various errors indicated in such sentences is the confusion with English "when." In addition, it is suggested that error analysis can help clarify the nature of grammatical problems and facilitate learning of…

An overview is given of semantic research in adult Second Language Acquisition (SLA), focusing particular attention on undirected SLA. Several studies on child SLA are mentioned, and suggestions for further research on SLA semantics are offered. (35 references) (GLR)

A study of the time- and aspect-marking of 24-month-old native Mandarin-speaking children analyzed their language during free play, and matched fifty utterance samples containing active predicates with all utterances using the perfective suffix "-le." It was found that the children mentioned the future, particularly their immediate intentions,…