Lexical Development Research Articles

Infants’ Lexical Processing Efficiency is Related to Vocabulary Size by One Year of Age

By 15–18 months, infants’ skill in interpreting familiar words, or lexical processing efficiency (LPE), improves substantially and is correlated with vocabulary size concurrently and several months later. Prior to this age LPE is quite poor, and to date there is little evidence that it is related to vocabulary size. If this relation only emerges once infants have relatively good LPE, and also know a substantial number of words, it could suggest that the processes that support the rapid growth in vocabulary commonly observed as infants approach age 2 may not yet be functional in the earlier stages of lexical development. However, using a modified LPE task we found that 12‐month‐olds with better LPE understood more words at that age and also produced more words several months later. These results suggest that meaningful individual differences in LPE are already emerging by 12 months and may support lexical development across the second year.

Speaking is doing and doing is learning: vocabulary learning in service-learning

ABSTRACTThis study reports on vocabulary learning through service-learning (SL) where Spanish L2 learners participated in a story-time program with bilingual children. The descriptive, observational, and qualitative analysis of data sources (e.g., journals, vocabulary assessments) describes language learning “sowing” events (van Lier 2000) that supported vocabulary learning/teaching goals: extending learners’ meaningful use of the target language, increasing their usable vocabulary, and equipping them with strategies to take charge of their own lexical development (Nation 2013). Framed through sociocultural perspectives, findings show that learners retained vocabulary targeted through their service as a result of doing with the language in a context in which language exchanges were meaningful, creative, and unscripted. Moreover, the activity’s demands required that learners discover new mediational means, which promoted the evolution of their vocabulary learning strategies from conventional practices to more diversified, complex, and involved ones.

Desarrollo léxico en el jardín de infantes: incidencia de la lectura de cuentos en la dinámica del taller literario

The article shows the results of a research that assesed the incidence on lexical child development of only reading tales vs reading tales and setting up lexical specific activities. We have carried out a expost-factum research in which we compared the performance of a group of 24 (twenty four) 5 year-old children (µ: 5; 9:16, range: 4;10-5;9) in different lexical development indicators. The results have shown that reading tales seems to have possitive influence in lexical development but the impact of a specific design within a literature workshop seems to be significative.

Национальная вариативность немецкого языка в сфере лексической сочетаемости (на материале австрийских и швейцарских коллокаций)

The author’s attention is drawn to two problem areas of modern linguistics: the study of lexical compatibility and further development of the concept of national variability of the German language. Collocations are chosen as an object of research. They are considered on the one hand as a basic phenomenon of lexical combinatorics, and on the other hand, as a special type of phraseological units, reflecting the features of all system levels of language or language variant. Based on the comparative analysis of Austrian, Swiss and German collocations extracted from lexicographical sources, the author shows that the norms of lexical compatibility in the German language of Germany, Austria and Switzerland in a number of aspects do not coincide. It is noted that national language standards have a significant number of collocations that are unknown and / or uncommon in other regions of the German-speaking area and in many cases have ethnocultural conditionality. As another kind of nationally specific collocations, the author considers the collocations that have common structural and semantic properties in all three national variants of the German language, but differ in the design of the base or collocator. It is argued that the revealed differences are due to either inventory and semantic differences in the lexical content of the phrases, or the variability of the use of general German components. In addition, the author points out that the national features of collocations are also manifested in the specifics of the syntactic organization, especially in the use of prepositions. Thus, it is shown that the peculiarities of Austrian and Swiss collocations are due to the originality of the national variants of the German language at different levels of the language system.

Positive effects of hearing and speech rehabilitation on lexical fund quality in hearing impaired children

Background/Aim. Initial experiences in rehabilitation of children with cochlear implants and frequent debates regarding the effects of their application have imposed the necessity to compare the effects of speech rehabilitation in children with hearing aids with those having cochlear implants. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the level of lexical development in hearing impaired children who are involved in the process of hearing and speech-language rehabilitation and who were amplified by hearing aids or cochlear implants. Methods. The sample consisted of 55 children aged 3?6 years, diagnosed with prelingual bilateral hearing impairment with a hearing threshold above 90 dB. All examined children had average intellectual abilities and no additonal impairments. The sample was divided into 2 groups: E1 group consisted of 30 children with cochlear implants and E2 group consisted of 25 children who were amplified by individual hearing aids. Research methodology included a Test of Vocabulary. The testing was performed individually. A year after the testing, a retest was done. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS v. 17 for Windows. Results. The largest number of children had average achievements on a Test of Vocabulary during initial testing. After a year (retest) significant improvements were noticed. A large number of children had above average achievements (46.7% in the E1 and 36% in the E2 group) while the number of children with below average achievements was significantly reduced (3.3% in the E1 and 8% in the E2). A comparative analysis of the test and those with gearing aids achievements showed that there was no statistically significant difference between children with cochlear implants and retest. Conclusion. Significant improvement of the achievements on retest in both groups can be explained by positive effects of systematic, planned, intensive and continuous rehabilitation of hearing impaired children, and not by application of certain type of hearing amplification.

What happens to the basic level in language?

AbstractIt is a common assumption that basic level categories are cognitive units that share perceptual and linguistic characteristics at the same time. They are taken to be perceptual and functional gestalts designated by words that have a special status with regard to lexical development in children and frequency of occurrence and usefulness in everyday communication. Despite this connectedness of the two aspects of the basic level they do not go hand in hand. The perceptual side of basic level categorization is primary to language and exists independently of it. Basic level categories emerge naturally in the human perceptual-cognitive system as a result of our biological make-up in order to facilitate a proper functioning and orientation in our environment. The linguistic side relies on perception but is at the same time determined by several other factors. Basic level designations do not directly represent perceptual information because they contain additional conceptual knowledge reflecting cultural conceptualizations. This dissociation between the two sides can be seen on the one hand in the inconsistencies between perceptual qualities of entities and the way in which these entities are grouped together in linguistic basic level categories. On the other hand it is revealed through crosslinguistic discrepancies in category boundaries as delineated by words that are considered basic level terms and seemingly correspond in their semantics. An explanation of these phenomena requires that we do not handle the basic level as one phenomenon in which the perceptual and linguistic aspects merge but keep the two sides of the basic level apart while paying attention to their specific connections and influences on each other.

The Role of Input Factors in the Lexical Development of European Portuguese as a Heritage Language in Portuguese–German Bilingual Speakers

In light of previous research on early bilingualism, this study investigates whether 6–11-year-old child heritage speakers (HSs) of European Portuguese (EP), living in Germany, show patterns of lexical development similar to those of monolingual EP children, both in terms of vocabulary size and of lexical composition. Moreover, it assesses the role of factors related to the quantity and quality of the input in the HSs’ lexical development in EP. Twenty-three bilingual and 21 monolingual children were tested on a semi-spontaneous oral production task. The collected data were used to build a corpus composed of three subcorpora (nouns, verbs, adjectives), which served as a basis for between- and within-group comparisons. Information regarding the HSs’ language experience was collected by means of a parental questionnaire. Results revealed significant between-group differences concerning the total corpus and the subcorpora of nouns and verbs. Within-group comparisons showed that both groups produced significantly more nouns than verbs and more verbs than adjectives. Correlation analyses revealed that the HSs’ lexical knowledge is significantly correlated with the input and output quantity at home as well as with the number of EP-speaking parents. Parents emerge as the key players in the acquisition of EP as a heritage language.

The Role of Phonological Working Memory and Environmental Factors in Lexical Development in Italian-Speaking Late Talkers: A One-Year Follow-Up Study.

This follow-up study assessed (a) the influence of phonological working memory (pWM), home literacy environment, and a family history of linguistic impairments in late talkers (LTs); (b) the diagnostic accuracy of a task of nonword repetition (NWR) in identifying LTs; and (c) the persistence of lexical weaknesses after 10 months. Two hundred ninety-three children were assessed at approximately 32 (t1) and 41 (t2) months. At t1, they were administered the Italian adaptation of the Language Development Survey, an NWR task (used to assess pWM), and questionnaires assessing home literacy environment and family history of language impairments. Thirty-three LTs were identified. The linguistic skills of the participants were evaluated at t2 by administering tasks assessing Articulation, Naming, Semantic Fluency, and Lexical Comprehension. At t2, LTs performed more poorly as compared with age-matched typically developing peers in articulatory and naming skills, had reduced lexical comprehension abilities, and had limited lexical knowledge. Their performance on the NWR task at t1 correlated with the extension of their vocabularies at t2 (as estimated with a Semantic Fluency task). The Language Development Survey recently adapted to Italian is sensitive to LTs. Former LTs still have a mild lexical delay at approximately 40 months. As an indirect measure of pWM, the task of NWR is an early indicator of future lexical deficits.

Baremación de una tarea de repetición de pseudopalabras para la evaluación del desarrollo léxico

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; -ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">It has been demonstrated that the ability to repeat non-words is a good marker of lexical development in a number of languages, including Spanish. In addition, the ability to repeat nonwords has been used as a good discriminator between typically developing children and children with language delays or other language difficulties. However, despite its potential usefulness for clinical and research purposes, there is no validated scale in Spanish. To address this situation, we present a scale based on a sample of 342 monolingual Spanish-speaking children aged from four to seven years. After data analysis, a scale was elaborated to provide populational references for colleagues working in educational, clinical and research fields. The results show a ceiling effect for six years olds, as well as for monomorphemic and bisyllabic items. Implications of these scores are discussed in the corresponding section. </span></p>

Examining lexical development in second language learners: An approximate replication of Salsbury, Crossley & McNamara (2011)

This paper reports on an approximate or partial replication of a study by Salsbury, Crossley & McNamara (2011) that examined the longitudinal developmental of a number of core lexical features related to word imageability, concreteness, familiarity, and meaningfulness in a spoken corpus of English second language (L2) learners. Salsbury et al. found no developmental growth patterns for word familiarity but strong growth patterns for word concreteness, imageability, and meaningfulness as a function of time such that L2 learners began to produce more sophisticated words. Salsbury et al. were the first to formally identify this relation between English proficiency and lexical sophistication, and a large number of studies investigating lexical proficiency have cited this article as a foundational study. There were, however, a number of limitations to the Salsbury et al. (2011) study that make it appropriate for replication. First, the sample size was relatively small (six learners sampled six times over the course of a year). In addition, the study did not control for a number of factors important in L2 acquisition studies (e.g., age, proficiency level, gender) and used a statistical technique that averaged group means and did not properly account for individual participant variation. This replication study addresses these areas and the findings from the replication reflect those reported by Salsbury et al., providing support for the notion that developing L2 lexicons move from the production of words with stronger links to core lexical items to words with weaker links to core lexical items over time. Implications for language learning and teaching are discussed.

Sprechen Wir Deutsch? The construction of identity in Austria and South Tyrol

This paper examines some of the linguistic tools, techniques, means, and methods by which the populations of Austria and South Tyrol construct identity. In order to better situate these two communities, this paper begins with an overview of the conditions which led to the creation of each state. It then explains some of the ways in which language can be used as a tool of identity construction. Positioning theory details ways both these groups create categories of separationand belonging. Citing the use of Austrian German, dialect in literature, differing pronunciation, and lexical development, this paper examines how the population of Austria constructs a linguistic identity distancing itself from Germany. This paper also examines how, using similar linguistic tools such as pronoun use and naming techniques, the population of South Tyrol constructs its identity. In contrast to Austria, the South Tyroleans align themselves with Germany, creating closer ties with Germanic neighbours while distancing themselves from Italy. Each population positions itself in relation to Germany, either with or against, using linguistic tools to create a group identity.

The Diachronic Development of Chinese Word gan and tian

It is important to study the diachronic change and replacement of old words by new ones in Chinese etymology as the process does not happen and complete within a short span of time. This paper propose an in-depth study on gan (甘) and tian (甜) by investigating a number of historical documents of various registers from the Pre-Qin to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Based on the diachronic perspective, we conduct a quantitative analysis to show the lexical development and replacement process of gan (甘) and tian (甜) in its original and extended meanings. In the meantime, we also describes usage pattern and competition process of the two words in different periods, by comparing them in terms of usage frequency, semantic expression and syntactic distribution. Because gan (甘) is a polysemy with multiple meanings since the Pre-Qin dynasty, a new word tian (甜) with a single meaning of sweet taste emerged in the Western Han dynasty, which is subsequently commonly used in oral literature in the Wei and Jin dynasties. Afterwards, tian (甜) went into competition with gan (甘) in the Tang and Song dynasties, whose meaning was in turn further extended to psychological and sensory domains in the Ming and Qing dynasties. In modern Chinese, gan (甘) came to only function as a morpheme through semantic bleaching whereas tian (甜) often appeared in sentential structure. The semantic and syntactic functions of the two words remain stable and still in use.

The Sleeping Infant Brain Anticipates Development

From the age of 3months, infants learn relations between objects and co-occurring words [1]. These very first representations of object-word pairings in infant memory are considered as non-symbolic proto-words comprising specific visual-auditory associations that can already be formed in the first months of life [2-5]. Genuine words that refer to semantic long-term memory have not been evidenced prior to 9months of age [6-9]. Sleep is known to facilitate the reorganization of memories [9-14], but its impact on the perceptual-to-semantic trend in early development is unknown. Here we explored the formation of word meanings in 6- to 8-month-old infants and its reorganization during the course of sleep. Infants were exposed to new words as labels for new object categories. In the memory test about an hour later, generalization to novel category exemplars was tested. In infants who took a short nap during the retention period, a brain response of 3-month-olds [1] was observed, indicating generalizations based on early developing perceptual-associative memory. In those infants who napped longer, a semantic priming effect [15, 16] usually found later in development [17-19] revealed the formation of genuine words. The perceptual-to-semantic shift in memory was related to the duration of sleep stage 2 and to locally increased sleep spindle activity. The finding that, after the massed presentation of several labeled category exemplars, sleep enabled even 6-month-olds to create semantic long-term memory clearly challenges the notion that immature brain structures are responsible for the typically slower lexical development.

Cross-modal working memory binding and L1-L2 word learning.

The ability to create temporary binding representations of information from different sources in working memory has recently been found to relate to the development of monolingual word recognition in children. The current study explored this possible relationship in an adult word-learning context. We assessed whether the relationship between cross-modal working memory binding and lexical development would be observed in the learning of associations between unfamiliar spoken words and their semantic referents, and whether it would vary across experimental conditions in first- and second-language word learning. A group of English monolinguals were recruited to learn 24 spoken disyllable Mandarin Chinese words in association with either familiar or novel objects as semantic referents. They also took a working memory task in which their ability to temporarily bind auditory-verbal and visual information was measured. Participants' performance on this task was uniquely linked to their learning and retention of words for both novel objects and for familiar objects. This suggests that, at least for spoken language, cross-modal working memory binding might play a similar role in second language-like (i.e., learning new words for familiar objects) and in more native-like situations (i.e., learning new words for novel objects). Our findings provide new evidence for the role of cross-modal working memory binding in L1 word learning and further indicate that early stages of picture-based word learning in L2 might rely on similar cognitive processes as in L1.

Early Lexical Development and the Development of Translation Equivalents in a Simultaneous Bilingual Child

This study focuses on the development of lexicon by a child raised simulatneously in Indonesian and German from birth. In the immediate family members, the child received Indonesian from the mother and German from the father. The data was collected in natural setting when the child was 1;0 up to 3;0. In collecting the data, diary records and weekly video recordings were used. The data was analized using two softwares, ELAN and Toolbox. The child’s speech was segmented based on the child’s utterances. The result of the study shows that at the end of the study the child developed 521 lexicon in Indonesian and 243 in German. Both in Indonesian and German the child acquired more nouns than verbs. Besides, the child also developed about 164 translation equivalents. Thus, it confirms that the bilingual child developed two different lexical systems.

Leksička analiza početnica

The role of primers is to support literacy development, lexical enrichment and acquisition of the new knowledge. Therefore, the content and language incorporated in primers are important since they ensure successful reading and encourage child`s further learning. The aim of this study are lexical analyses of three primers approved by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport. The text and instruction from primers are analysed separately. The number of lemmas, types and tokens is calculated, as well as the number of low frequency words. The low frequency words are selected according to the Beck`s criteria: words that appear less than 12 times in primers are selected as low frequency words. It is well known that a great number of not commonly used words negatively influence on text comprehension and lexical development. The results show that most of the words in analysed primers are generally insufficiently represented and not distributed in various contexts. Frequency and context distribution are one of the prerequisites for word learning. Data gained from this study indicate that these two prerequisites have to be included in primers in order to ensure word learning and successful reading.

Particularités lexicales du français en Vallée d’Aoste

The linguistic questionnaires applied in the Aosta Valley in 2015-2016 allowed us to establish that Aostan French is still dotted with regionalisms that attest to their vitality. The lexemes and collocations confirmed by Aostan speakers of French can be grouped into three main categories: loanwords from Italian and Franco-Provencal, as well as archaisms and lexical neologisms. Thus, the specialized study of the examples contributed by representatives of three generations allowed us not only to elaborate a classification of Aostan regionalisms by their nature, degree of assimilation, etymology, etc., but also to define the trends of the lexical development of Aostan French in the 21st century.

The interrelatedness between infants’ communicative gestures and lexicon size: A longitudinal study

Research has shown a close relationship between gestures and language development. In this study, we investigate the cross-lagged relationships between different types of gestures and two lexicon dimensions: number of words produced and comprehended. Information about gestures and lexical development was collected from 48 typically developing infants when these were aged 0;9, 1;0 and 1;3. The European Portuguese version of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Gestures (PT CDI:WG) was used. The results indicated that the total number of actions and gestures and the number of early gestures produced at 0;9 and at 1;0 year predicted the number of words comprehended three months later. Actions and gestures’ predictive power of the number of words produced was limited to the 0;9–1;0 year interval. The opposite relationship was not found: word comprehension and production did not predict action and gestures three months later. These results highlight the importance of non-verbal communicative behavior in language development.

Densidade lexical na escrita de textos escolares

Este artigo apresenta um estudo de correlação entre a densidade lexical e a progressão escolar em textos escritos por crianças e adolescentes em idade escolar monolíngues de português europeu. Enquanto um indicador do desenvolvimento lexical, a densidade mensura-se pela razão entre as palavras lexicais e o total de palavras, como proposta por Ure (1971). Complementam-na a obtenção de razões baseadas em classes de palavras específicas, que são a densidade nominal, verbal, adjetival e adverbial. Com o recurso à ferramenta IMS Open Corpus Workbench, estas medidas foram extraídas de um corpus quasi-longitudinal, com 244 textos de registros narrativos (n=122) e argumentativos (n=122), escritos por alunos do quinto (n=26), do sétimo (n=46) e do décimo (n=50) ano do sistema escolar português. Os resultados mostram que, em ambos os registros, não há correlação entre a progressão escolar e a densidade lexical se considerada indistintamente. Tomadas as medidas por classes de palavras, identificou-se, por um lado, uma correlação positiva entre a densidade nominal e a progressão escolar e, por outro, uma correlação negativa entre a densidade verbal e a progressão escolar. Pretende-se, com este trabalho, contribuir para uma compreensão mais pormenorizada dos percursos configuradores do desenvolvimento da língua escrita de crianças e jovens em idade escolar.

Role of socialisation in the development of phonological, syntactical and lexical aspects of language

Rapid linguistic development is believed to occur in early childhood because of the malleability of this period (Hutterlocher, et al., 1991; Maccoby, 1992). The aim of this paper is to evaluate the role of socialisation as a contributor to first-language acquisition in terms of the phonological, lexical and syntactical aspects of language. The relative importance of nativist-and usage-based approaches to language is examined. Following from that, the role of the amount, type and period of exposure to speech in the process of learning English as a first-language. This paper explores a number of studies of typical and atypical children in the relevant literature. It concludes that language acquisition is driven both by innate ability and by environmental factors, i.e. society, or social elements are significant as activators of the human being’s innate ability to acquire language. According to this paper, the deprivation of socialisation is critical to many aspects of language development, most importantly syntactic, and least importantly phonological. Deficits in phonological aspects are only seen in the case of atypical children, and the cases of autistic children, while lexical development can be seen in both cases; typical and atypical. The results of the studies investigated in this paper suggest that syntax is aspect of language most affected by inadequate exposure to language. It also concluded that these three aspects of language acquisition are also likely to be influenced by a critical period, which is a proposal of nativism.