Is there a direct relation between the development of vocabulary and grammar?

Abstract

Previous studies of individual differences have revealed strong correlations between children's vocabulary and grammatical abilities, and these data have been used to support theoretical accounts positing direct developmental relations between these two areas of language. However, between-person differences do not necessarily reflect intra-individual dynamics. Thus, in the present study, we analysed longitudinal data from three annual assessments of vocabulary and grammar in 217 children (M = 4 years and 3 months at first assessment) using a modelling strategy with some utility in distinguishing relations at the between- and within-person levels. The results revealed strong correlations between grammar and vocabulary at the between-person level, but the evidence of direct dependencies between the variables at the within-person level was rather limited. Specifically, we found a small direct contribution from grammar to vocabulary for children between the ages of 4 and 5, but there was no evidence of any direct contributions from vocabulary to grammar. Further analyses suggested that the home literacy environment may represent a common source of individual differences in children's vocabulary and grammatical skills. In light of these results, we argue that the evidence of direct relations between vocabulary and grammatical development in preschool-aged children may not be as strong as previously assumed.

What categorical induction variability reveals about typical and atypical development

“…This finding is consistent with other recent reports that have documented links between early implicit eye gaze language assessments, such as Head-turn Preference Procedure (Newman, Ratner, Jusczyk, Jusczyk & Dow, 2006), Looking While Listening (e.g., Fernald & Marchman, 2012), and IPL (e.g., Naigles et al , 2011), and later language. Our findings are also an important extension of numerous findings showing links between early and later standardized tests (most recently Brinchmann, Braeken & Lyster, 2019), now with a psycholinguistic task – categorical induction – as the outcome. While standardized tests have been designed to categorize individuals on macro level skills (e.g., IQ, language) they are not finely honed on particular skills.…”

Predicting Language Proficiency in Bilingual Children

“…One potentially important factor that we did not consider in the present study is the home literacy environment and the extent to which reading and writing in the HL and/or the SL correlates with SES and in turn affects children’s language skills. Brinchmann, Braeken, and Lyster (2019), for instance, argue that the home literacy environment accounts for individual differences in vocabulary and grammar in preschool monolingual children. A hypothesis for future research is whether (and to what extent) the amount and diversity of literacy activities explain the relationship between SES and language proficiency in bilingual children.…”

“…One potentially important factor that we did not consider in the present study is the home literacy environment and the extent to which reading and writing in the home language and/or the school language correlates with SES and in turn affects children's language skills. Brinchmann, Braeken, and Lyster (2019) Future research will be needed to determine if this is the case in older age groups as well.…”

Early language experience in a Papuan community

“…The sum of this experience with language (their "input") is the basis for their lexical, grammatical, and sociolinguistic development. Much developmental language research focuses on the value of child-directed speech (CDS) in particular as a tailored source of linguistic input that can boost lexical and syntactic development (Bates & Goodman, 1997;Brinchmann, Braeken & Lyster, 2019;Frank, Braginsky, Yurovsky & Marchman, in press;Hart & Risley, 1995;Hoff, 2003;Huttenlocher, Waterfall, Vasilyeva, Vevea & Hedges, 2010;Lieven, Pine & Baldwin, 1997;Marchman, Martínez-Sussmann & Dale, 2004;Snow, 1977;Weisleder & Fernald, 2013). However, we have also known for decades that children's language environmentse.g., who is around and talking about what to whomvary dramatically within and across families, and that children in some communities hear very little directed talk without any apparent delays in their linguistic development (e.g., Brown, 2011;Brown & Gaskins, 2014;de León, 2011;Gaskins, 2006;Ochs, 1988;Ochs & Schieffelin, 1984;Rogoff, Paradise, Arauz, Correa-Chávez & Angelillo, 2003;Schieffelin, 1990).…”