She Thinks in English, But She Wants in Mandarin: Differences in Singaporean Bilingual English–Mandarin Maternal Mental-State-Talk

She Thinks in English, But She Wants in Mandarin: Differences in Singaporean Bilingual English–Mandarin Maternal Mental-State-Talk

Chinese-speaking parents are believed to use less cognitive mental-state-talk than their English-speaking counterparts on account of their cultural goals in socializing their children to follow an interdependence script. Here, we investigated bilingual English–Mandarin Singaporean mothers who associ...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Michelle Cheng, Peipei Setoh, Marc H. Bornstein, Gianluca Esposito
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-06-01
Series:Behavioral Sciences
Subjects:
bilingualism
mental-state-talk
socialization
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/10/7/106
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spelling doaj-1e4ba087b7e545c9988de54cc6aac3042020-11-25T03:52:41ZengMDPI AGBehavioral Sciences2076-328X2020-06-011010610610.3390/bs10070106She Thinks in English, But She Wants in Mandarin: Differences in Singaporean Bilingual English–Mandarin Maternal Mental-State-TalkMichelle Cheng0Peipei Setoh1Marc H. Bornstein2Gianluca Esposito3Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639818, SingaporePsychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639818, SingaporeEunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD 20892, USAPsychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639818, SingaporeChinese-speaking parents are believed to use less cognitive mental-state-talk than their English-speaking counterparts on account of their cultural goals in socializing their children to follow an interdependence script. Here, we investigated bilingual English–Mandarin Singaporean mothers who associate different functions for each language as prescribed by their government: English for school and Mandarin for in-group contexts. English and Mandarin maternal mental-state-talk from bilingual English–Mandarin mothers with their toddlers was examined. Mothers produced more ‘’cognitive’’ terms in English than in Mandarin and more ‘’desire’’ terms in Mandarin than in English. We show that mental-state-talk differs between bilingual parents’ languages, suggesting that mothers adjust their mental-state-talk to reflect the functions of each language.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/10/7/106bilingualismmental-state-talksocialization
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Michelle Cheng
Peipei Setoh
Marc H. Bornstein
Gianluca Esposito
spellingShingle Michelle Cheng
Peipei Setoh
Marc H. Bornstein
Gianluca Esposito
She Thinks in English, But She Wants in Mandarin: Differences in Singaporean Bilingual English–Mandarin Maternal Mental-State-Talk
Behavioral Sciences
bilingualism
mental-state-talk
socialization
author_facet Michelle Cheng
Peipei Setoh
Marc H. Bornstein
Gianluca Esposito
author_sort Michelle Cheng
title She Thinks in English, But She Wants in Mandarin: Differences in Singaporean Bilingual English–Mandarin Maternal Mental-State-Talk
title_short She Thinks in English, But She Wants in Mandarin: Differences in Singaporean Bilingual English–Mandarin Maternal Mental-State-Talk
title_full She Thinks in English, But She Wants in Mandarin: Differences in Singaporean Bilingual English–Mandarin Maternal Mental-State-Talk
title_fullStr She Thinks in English, But She Wants in Mandarin: Differences in Singaporean Bilingual English–Mandarin Maternal Mental-State-Talk
title_full_unstemmed She Thinks in English, But She Wants in Mandarin: Differences in Singaporean Bilingual English–Mandarin Maternal Mental-State-Talk
title_sort she thinks in english, but she wants in mandarin: differences in singaporean bilingual english–mandarin maternal mental-state-talk
publisher MDPI AG
series Behavioral Sciences
issn 2076-328X
publishDate 2020-06-01
description Chinese-speaking parents are believed to use less cognitive mental-state-talk than their English-speaking counterparts on account of their cultural goals in socializing their children to follow an interdependence script. Here, we investigated bilingual English–Mandarin Singaporean mothers who associate different functions for each language as prescribed by their government: English for school and Mandarin for in-group contexts. English and Mandarin maternal mental-state-talk from bilingual English–Mandarin mothers with their toddlers was examined. Mothers produced more ‘’cognitive’’ terms in English than in Mandarin and more ‘’desire’’ terms in Mandarin than in English. We show that mental-state-talk differs between bilingual parents’ languages, suggesting that mothers adjust their mental-state-talk to reflect the functions of each language.
topic bilingualism
mental-state-talk
socialization
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/10/7/106
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