Abstract
This study investigated responsive and directive speech from 60 Finnish mothers to their 2-year-old children, as well as correlations with concurrent and later vocabulary. Possible gender differences with regard to both maternal speech and children’s vocabulary skills were considered. There were no gender differences in maternal utterance frequencies or in maternal utterance types. Girls scored statistically significantly higher in receptive and expressive vocabulary tests at 24, 30 and 36 months. The effect sizes were large. Maternal Other Utterances (fillers like yes, oh, umm) were correlated with children’s concurrent receptive vocabulary. However, there was no relationship between Other Utterances and children’s later vocabulary after controlling for vocabulary size at 24 months. This association may reflect an attempt by mothers to elicit speech from more linguistically advanced children. Furthermore, mothers’ Intrusive Directives towards 2-year-olds correlated negatively with receptive vocabulary at 30 months, particularly for boys. Surprisingly, Intrusive Attentional Directives correlated positively with expressive vocabulary in the group of 30-month-old girls. The results of this study demonstrate relationships between maternal verbal interactional style and both concurrent and future child vocabulary.
Accepted Version (
Free)
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
