The Influence of Age and Cultural Context on Internal State Terms Production in Luganda-Speaking Children’s Narratives

Children’s use of internal state terms (ISTs) in narratives offers insights into their cognitive and social development, including theory of mind (ToM). Research shows a gradual integration of ISTs into children’s vocabulary; younger children emphasize emotions and intentions, while older children develop more diverse ISTs. This study investigates IST usage in narratives produced by 24 Luganda-speaking children in two age groups (7–9; 10–12) using the four picture sets (Cat, Dog, Baby Birds, and Baby Goats) from the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN; Gagarina et al., 2019). Each child narrated two different stories, with narratives audio-recorded, transcribed, and ISTs coded for lexical and semantic categories. Findings revealed no significant differences in IST usage by age groups, genders, or story types. Verbs dominated, particularly perception and mental state verbs. A surprising negative association between story complexity and IST use emerged in the older group, suggesting that as narratives grow more complex, children may shift focus from internal states to external events – a pattern potentially reflecting both developmental changes and the influence of African storytelling traditions, which often emphasize action and plot over internal experiences. The findings underscore the potential of integrating traditional storytelling into education to foster IST acquisition and cognitive development. Practical implications for enhancing culturally responsive pedagogy are discussed.