Abstract
We present a new set of subjective Age of Acquisition (AoA) ratings for 299 words (158 nouns, 141 verbs) in seven languages from various language families and cultural settings: American English, Czech, Scottish Gaelic, Lebanese Arabic, Malaysian Malay, Persian, and Western Armenian. The ratings were collected from a total of 173 participants and were highly reliable in each language. We applied the same method of data collection as used in a previous study on 25 languages which allowed us to create a database of fully comparable AoA ratings of 299 words in 32 languages. We found that in the seven languages not included in the previous study, the words are estimated to be acquired at roughly the same age as in the previously reported languages, i.e. mostly between the ages of 1 and 7 years. We also found that the order of word acquisition is moderately to highly correlated across all 32 languages, which extends our previous conclusion that early words are acquired in similar order across a wide range of languages and cultures.
Highlights
Age of acquisition effectAge of acquisition (AoA), i.e. an estimation of the age at which a word is acquired, is an important factor in research on word processing
The average Age of Acquisition (AoA) ratings obtained for each of the seven languages are presented in the supplemental material
We present a new database of subjective AoA ratings for 299 in seven languages from three language families which extends previously available ratings for 25 other languages [1]
Summary
Age of acquisition effectAge of acquisition (AoA), i.e. an estimation of the age at which a word is acquired, is an important factor in research on word processing. Words acquired earlier in life are processed faster and more accurately than words learned later. This phenomenon is called “Age of acquisition effect”. The AoA effect has recently been found in new tasks such as intentional and incidental forgetting [14], elicitation of tip-of-the-tongue experiences [15], as well as eye movement in reading [16]. Early acquired words are more resistant to being forgotten, even if participants are instructed to forget the list of words [14]. An AoA effect has recently been shown in processing of multiword phrases: early acquired multiword phrases are processed faster [17]
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