Language-specific noun bias: evidence from bilingual children.
J Child Lang
; 40(5): 1057-75, 2013 Nov.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-23137490
ABSTRACT
Most evidence concerning cross-linguistic variation in noun bias, the preponderance of nouns in early expressive lexicons (Gentner, 1982), has come from comparisons of monolingual children acquiring different languages. Such designs are susceptible to a number of potential confounders, including group differences in developmental level and sociodemographic characteristics. The aim of this study was to quantify noun bias in bilingual Mandarin-English toddlers whose expressive lexicons in each language contained 50-300 words. Parents of fifty children (1;10-2;6) reported separately on their English and Mandarin expressive lexicons. The mean percentage of Mandarin nouns (38%) was significantly lower than the percentage of English nouns (54%) and was robust to analyses of twelve potential covariates. Analyses of the most frequently reported words suggested that lexical reduplication could be considered as a potential influence on vocabulary composition in future studies. Results suggest that characteristics of the input significantly shape early lexicons.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Vocabulário
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Multilinguismo
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Desenvolvimento da Linguagem
Limite:
Child, preschool
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Female
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Humans
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Infant
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Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Child Lang
Ano de publicação:
2013
Tipo de documento:
Article