How General Is the Semantic Structure of Time? A Comparison of Indians and Germans

Abstract

People in different cultures differ in their time-related behaviors and judgments. But do they also differ in how time is represented in their minds, that is, in their semantic structures of time, and if so, how and why? Two studies addressed these questions using participants' time-related associative responses to compare the semantic structures of time across Indian and German university students. Study 1 compared time-related associations and found only low intercultural agreement, which increased somewhat if associations were grouped into categories. In Study 2, a comparison of the results of multidimensional scaling analyses on a crossculturally representative selection of stimuli was consistent with the conclusion that differences across cultures are much more pronounced than commonalities. Two cultural aspects in particular might be responsible for the diversity in the semantic structures of time: the monochronic-polychronic distinction and the distinction between linear and cyclical time. Moreover, intercultural differences may be strongly intensified by language effects, especially if the languages in question greatly differ. It is concluded that behavioral and judgmental differences in dealing with time may be grounded in how people intuitively think about it and the language used to do so. Keywords CUBR-D-19-00026. Semantic structure of time. Intercultural. Indians. Germans Time is an elusive concept, as expressed by Saint Augustine 1 in his Confessions (Book XI) 1 : "What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know." This may be a familiar experience to many if not all of us. We all have a semantic structure of time but it is hard to express what exactly this