Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Research on English and Chinese children’s poetry has largely centered on themes, rhythm, and educational functions, with limited attention to structural differences and their cognitive roots. Adopting Wang’s [1] theory of “temporal–spatial differences between English and Chinese,” this study explores the temporal and spatial features of children’s poetry in the two languages, filling a gap in applying this framework to children’s literature. Results indicate that English children’s poetry emphasizes temporality: sentence-level time is shaped by verb tenses and hypotactic connections, while phrase-level time relates to verb ellipsis and logical connectors. By contrast, Chinese children’s poetry foregrounds spatiality: sentence-level space is constructed through nouns, locatives, and image juxtaposition, and phrase-level space through noun phrases dominated by nouns or locatives. These contrasts reflect that English prioritizes temporal sequence, whereas Chinese privileges spatial configuration—offering a reference for studying temporal–spatial patterns in other bilingual texts.
DOI: 10.63313/llcs.9222
Author: Le Gao
Institution: East China University of Science and Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7223274351