Entering the community of minds: Chinese children’s mental state language use during free play

<p dir="ltr">Mental state language (MSL) is defined as language that is used to describe people’s inner states, including desires, emotions, perceptions, and cognition. Existing studies confirm that MSL use benefits children’s development of understanding of minds. At present, the quantity of children’s MSL has been investigated thoroughly, while the functions remain to be explored. Furthermore, most studies have focused on English-speaking children, but studies on Chinese children are limited. Chinese culture may provide a helpful contrast to English-speaking cultures because of its linguistic and philosophical differences. Based on previous studies, this research aims to investigate the quantity and functions of Chinese children’s MSL use in early childhood settings. Forty-seven Chinese children’s utterances during 20 minutes of free play were coded in two ways: first, using the MSL coding scheme used in previous studies, and then applying the interpersonal functions coding scheme from systemic functional linguistic theory (SFL). Results provide valuable insights into how Chinese children use MSL, which will inform educators’ efforts to support this important kind of talk and create a positive MSL environment in daily interactions.</p>