Daniela Gatt

Parent report of early lexical production in bilingual children: a cross-linguistic CDI comparison

ABSTRACT This paper compared the vocabulary size of a group of 250 bilinguals aged 24–36 months acquiring six different language pairs using an analogous tool, and attempted to identify factors that influence vocabulary sizes and ultimately place children at risk for language delay. Each research group used adaptations of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories: Words and Sentences and a specially designed developmental and language background questionnaire to gather information on risk factors for language impairment, demographic and language exposure variables. The results showed a wide range in vocabulary development which could be somewhat attributed to mothers’ education status, parental concerns about language development and amount of exposure to the second language. We looked at those children performing below the 10th and above the 90th percentile to determine what factors were related to their vocabulary size. Features of the entire group of lower performing children were fewer than 50 words and the absence of two-word combinations by 24 months, lower levels of parental education and parental concerns about language development. The implications for identifying bilingual children at risk for language impairment as well as the language enrichment that might be needed for young bilinguals are outlined.

Ratings of age of acquisition of 299 words across 25 languages: Is there a cross-linguistic order of words?

We present a new set of subjective age-of-acquisition (AoA) ratings for 299 words (158 nouns, 141 verbs) in 25 languages from five language families (Afro-Asiatic: Semitic languages; Altaic: one Turkic language: Indo-European: Baltic, Celtic, Germanic, Hellenic, Slavic, and Romance languages; Niger-Congo: one Bantu language; Uralic: Finnic and Ugric languages). Adult native speakers reported the age at which they had learned each word. We present a comparison of the AoA ratings across all languages by contrasting them in pairs. This comparison shows a consistency in the orders of ratings across the 25 languages. The data were then analyzed (1) to ascertain how the demographic characteristics of the participants influenced AoA estimations and (2) to assess differences caused by the exact form of the target question (when did you learn vs. when do children learn this word); (3) to compare the ratings obtained in our study to those of previous studies; and (4) to assess the validity of our study by comparison with quasi-objective AoA norms derived from the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MB-CDI). All 299 words were judged as being acquired early (mostly before the age of 6 years). AoA ratings were associated with the raters’ social or language status, but not with the raters’ age or education. Parents reported words as being learned earlier, and bilinguals reported learning them later. Estimations of the age at which children learn the words revealed significantly lower ratings of AoA. Finally, comparisons with previous AoA and MB-CDI norms support the validity of the present estimations. Our AoA ratings are available for research or other purposes.

Early expressive vocabulary skills: A multi-method approach to measurement

Investigations of early vocabulary production often employ a single method to measure children’s word use. This study examined expressive vocabulary development in children aged 1;0–2;6 years through a combination of picture naming, caregiver report and language sampling. The participants were predominantly exposed to Maltese at home, with gathered evidence providing novel documentation of early vocabulary development in this specific language-learning context. Expressive vocabulary reported by caregivers was compared to word use elicited through picture naming and sampled naturalistically during play. Analyses revealed commonalities between pairs of measures that pointed towards their validity. Resulting differences underscored the influences that data collection methods exerted on the measures they generated. Taken together, these findings highlight the relevance of multiple methods for ensuring validity and objectivity in the investigation of expressive vocabulary development.

Establishing the Concurrent Validity of a Vocabulary Checklist for Young Maltese Children

Objective: The current literature highlights the research and clinical applications of parental report in investigating the status of language skills in young children. Since language acquisition norms for Maltese have not yet been established, this study attempts to obtain preliminary indications of developmental trends in early lexical development by adapting an established parent-completed vocabulary checklist for use with Maltese children. Patients and Methods: The concurrent validity of this bilingual adaptation was examined relative to picture naming abilities and spontaneous vocabulary use in a cross-sectional cohort of 10 children aged between 12 and 30 months who were primarily exposed to Maltese. Results: The results indicate a high and significant correlation between lexical production abilities as reported by parents completing the checklist and as measured through confrontation naming and conversational language use. Reported vocabulary measures indicate a steady increase in lexical production with age, with a sharp increment evident beyond the age of 24 months. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the preliminary version of the vocabulary checklist has potential for gauging early lexical growth and point towards the need for further research on a larger scale.

Early lexical expression in children exposed to mixed input: A case of monolingual or bilingual development?

Aims and objectives: This study documents early lexical expression in children whose language input in the home was predominantly Maltese, accompanied by regular exposure to English lexical mixing. Bilingualism and language contact were also present at the societal level. The study attempts to determine whether the children’s pattern of vocabulary growth corresponded to a monolingual or bilingual mode of development. Methodology: The expressive vocabularies of 60 children aged 1;0 to 2;6 years were measured using caregiver reports and language sampling. Data and analysis: Expressive scores representing total vocabulary, Maltese and English words as well as translation equivalents were derived from the language samples and caregiver-completed vocabulary checklists. Findings and conclusions: Both Maltese and English words were identified in the children’s expressive vocabularies. Higher translation equivalent proportions were reported across daily settings than were sampled. Participants seemed to introduce new equivalents for words previously used in one language according to the needs of the communicative context. These findings demonstrate a basic level of bilingualism in the participants and suggest selective use of equivalents in response to environmental demands. The latter would imply the presence of a double lexical system, indicating a more refined bilingual status, although insufficient contextual evidence made this a tentative proposition. Fragmented exposure to English appeared unable to support the participants’ bilingual development beyond the lexical domain. Originality: While documenting lexical development in children exposed to a distinctive language-learning context that is as yet under-researched, this study adds to the limited evidence on lexical expression in young children exposed to substantial lexical mixing in their input. Significance: These findings highlight the development of bilingual proficiency as a process that spreads across linguistic levels in accordance with input variables. They also suggest that Maltese children’s bilingual lexicons may have the potential to kick-start their sequential bilingual development once systematic exposure to integral English is introduced through schooling.

Early lexical expression in typically developing Maltese children: implications for the identification of language delay

Limited word production may be the first indicator of impaired language development. The unavailability of normative data and standardized assessments for young Maltese children hinders the identification of early language delays. This study aimed to document Maltese childrens expressive vocabulary growth and accompanying range of variation, to assist identification of children at risk for language impairment. The expressive vocabularies of 44 typically developing children aged 12–30 months were measured through caregiver report. Mean scores at each age point were characterized by substantial individual variation. Gender was not related to mean growth in vocabulary production. Minimum scores were compared to clinical thresholds for English-speaking children. Results emphasized the assessment- and language-specific nature of identification criteria. Nevertheless, established thresholds may be referred to when normative data for particular languages/language pairs are limited. In such contexts, the consideration of other risk markers gains importance in supplementing findings on lexical expression.

Lexical mixing in the early productive vocabularies of Maltese children: implications for intervention.

Since norms for vocabulary acquisition in Maltese children do not yet exist, documentation of productive vocabulary acquisition may contribute to establishing a baseline of lexical development. Clinical implications may thus be derived. The current study is a small‐scale investigation of the proportions of Maltese and English lexemes in the vocabularies of ten normally‐developing Maltese children aged between 12 and 30 months. The participants were primarily exposed to Maltese within their immediate environments, while receiving indirect exposure to English. Outcomes of parental report and language sampling were analysed for evidence of a bilingual dimension in these childrens productive vocabularies. Translation equivalents were reported on by parents, but negligible evidence of equivalents emerged in conversational language use. In contrast, lexical borrowings were both reported and sampled. A substantial proportion of English lexemes were reported by the parents in the absence of Maltese equivalents.

Bilingual vocabulary production in young children receiving Maltese-dominant exposure: individual differences and the influence of demographic and language exposure factors

ABSTRACT This study explored individual variability in the bilingual vocabularies of 65 Maltese children aged 23–27 months (N = 33) and 30–34 months (N = 32). Most of the participants’ direct input consisted of Maltese sentences embedding English words. Bilingualism was present at the societal level. Word production was measured through parental report, using a bilingual adaptation of the vocabulary checklist in the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories. The participants’ composite and single-language vocabulary measures were examined for central tendencies and age effects, together with individual usage of Maltese and English words. The study also investigated how demographic and language exposure factors, documented through parental questionnaire responses, accounted for individual differences in participants’ vocabularies. Proportionally adjusted single-language scores showed 61.54% of children to use fewer Maltese words than expected. Maternal education level emerged as a significant predictor of Total Vocabulary and Maltese word scores, but explained very little of the variance for each. Frequency of English language exposure in main caregiver input and age group emerged as factors explaining 30.5% of the variance in English vocabulary scores. Maternal education level and frequency of English exposure may therefore act as protective factors in the vocabulary development of children receiving Maltese-dominant exposure.

Cross-linguistic patterns in the acquisition of quantifiers.

Significance Although much research has been devoted to the acquisition of number words, relatively little is known about the acquisition of other expressions of quantity. We propose that the order of acquisition of quantifiers is related to features inherent to the meaning of each term. Four specific dimensions of the meaning and use of quantifiers are found to capture robust similarities in the order of acquisition of quantifiers in similar ways across 31 languages, representing 11 language types. Learners of most languages are faced with the task of acquiring words to talk about number and quantity. Much is known about the order of acquisition of number words as well as the cognitive and perceptual systems and cultural practices that shape it. Substantially less is known about the acquisition of quantifiers. Here, we consider the extent to which systems and practices that support number word acquisition can be applied to quantifier acquisition and conclude that the two domains are largely distinct in this respect. Consequently, we hypothesize that the acquisition of quantifiers is constrained by a set of factors related to each quantifier’s specific meaning. We investigate competence with the expressions for “all,” “none,” “some,” “some…not,” and “most” in 31 languages, representing 11 language types, by testing 768 5-y-old children and 536 adults. We found a cross-linguistically similar order of acquisition of quantifiers, explicable in terms of four factors relating to their meaning and use. In addition, exploratory analyses reveal that language- and learner-specific factors, such as negative concord and gender, are significant predictors of variation.

The effects of bilingual status on lexical comprehension and production in Maltese five-year-old children: A LITMUS-CLT study

ABSTRACT This article investigates whether the bilingual status of 56 typically developing children aged 60–69 months influenced their lexical abilities. The participants were identified as Maltese-dominant (Me) (n = 21), English-dominant (Em) (n = 15) and balanced bilingual (ME) (n = 20) on the basis of language exposure and proficiency, as reported by their parents. Comprehension and production of nouns and verbs were measured using Cross-Linguistic Lexical Tasks (LITMUS-CLT) in Maltese (CLT-MT) and British English (CLT-EN). Significant effects of bilingual group were identified for performance on lexical comprehension. For production, consistent bilingual group effects resulted when accurate concepts lexicalised in the test language were scored. Lexical mixing was more pronounced when children were tested in their non-dominant language. Maltese noun production elicited the highest levels of mixing across all groups. Findings point towards the need to consider specific exposure dynamics to each language within a single language pair when assessing children’s bilingual lexical skills.