Abstract
Vocabulary knowledge is central to a speaker's command of their language. In previous research, greater vocabulary knowledge has been associated with advantages in language processing. In this study, we examined the relationship between individual differences in vocabulary and language processing performance more closely by (i) using a battery of vocabulary tests instead of just one test, and (ii) testing not only university students (Experiment 1) but young adults from a broader range of educational backgrounds (Experiment 2). Five vocabulary tests were developed, including multiple-choice and open antonym and synonym tests and a definition test, and administered together with two established measures of vocabulary. Language processing performance was measured using a lexical decision task. In Experiment 1, vocabulary and word frequency were found to predict word recognition speed while we did not observe an interaction between the effects. In Experiment 2, word recognition performance was predicted by word frequency and the interaction between word frequency and vocabulary, with high-vocabulary individuals showing smaller frequency effects. While overall the individual vocabulary tests were correlated and showed similar relationships with language processing as compared to a composite measure of all tests, they appeared to share less variance in Experiment 2 than in Experiment 1. Implications of our findings concerning the assessment of vocabulary size in individual differences studies and the investigation of individuals from more varied backgrounds are discussed.
Highlights
Knowing the words of the language is undeniably an important part of a speaker’s command of their language
A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) assuming two components was run on z-transformed vocabulary scores
In Experiment 1, participants’ vocabulary was assessed in a battery of seven tests, and their scores on the individual tests and a composite vocabulary score were related to their performance in a visual lexical decision task
Summary
Knowing the words of the language is undeniably an important part of a speaker’s command of their language. Increased vocabulary knowledge has been found to be associated with faster responses in picture naming (Rodriguez-Aranda and Jakobsen, 2011) and in verbal fluency tasks. Better vocabulary knowledge (i.e., knowing more words) has been associated with advantages in various language comprehension and production tasks. This is somewhat counterintuitive as one might expect that retrieving lexical items from a larger vocabulary would be slower than retrieval from a smaller lexicon because more lexical items might compete for selection as the lexicon becomes larger or denser (Diependaele et al, 2013). Individuals with larger vocabularies appear to be able to access their knowledge faster than individuals with smaller vocabularies
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