Spatial and temporal locations in child Jordanian Arabic.

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the influence of cognitive development on the acquisition of the spatial and temporal systems in Jordanian Arabic. 60 Jordanian children 2 to 6 years old received a comprehension test based on a 1991 sentence-picture matching task of Weist, wherein each problem contained a minimal morphological contrast. These contrasts were either spatial, e.g., 'in/on', or temporal, e.g., past/future tense. Further, the contrasts required either a single referent object or event, e.g., 'in/on' and past/future tense, or they required two or more referent objects or events, e.g., 'between' and 'before/after'. Firstly, significant change across age groups was noted. Secondly, problems which required two referent objects or events were more difficult than those requiring one referent object or event. Finally, spatial contrasts were easier than temporal ones. The findings were related to the general issue of the interaction of language and thought during the acquisition of language.