Document Type
Article
Version
Publisher's PDF
Publication Title
Journal of Child Language
Volume
38
Publication Date
9-1-2011
Abstract
This study investigated vocabulary size and vocabulary composition in Greek children aged 1; 6 to 2; 11 using a Greek adaptation of Rescorla's Language Development Survey (LDS; Rescorla, 1989). Participants were 273 toddlers coming from monolingual Greek-speaking families. Greek LDS data were compared with US LDS data obtained from the instrument's normative sample (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000). Vocabulary size increased markedly with age, but Greek toddlers appeared to get off to a slower start in early word learning than US children. The correlation between percentage word use scores in Greek and US samples was moderate in size, indicating considerable overlap but some differences. Common nouns were the largest category among the fifty most frequent words in both samples. Numbers of adjectives and verbs were comparable across languages, but people and closed-class words were more numerous in the Greek sample. Finally, Greek late talkers showed similar patterns of vocabulary composition to those observed in typically developing Greek children.
Publisher's Statement
© 2011 by Cambridge University Press. Available on publisher's site at http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S030500091000053X.
Citation
Papaeliou, Christina F., and Leslie A. Rescorla. "Vocabulary Development in Greek Children: A Cross-Linguistic Comparison Using the Language Development Survey." Journal of Child Language 38, no. 4 (2011): 861-887, doi: 10.1017/S030500091000053X.
DOI
10.1017/S030500091000053X