Socioeconomic status differences in the linguistic environment: a study with Spanish-speaking populations in Argentina

Stein, Alejandra; Menti, Alejandra; Rosemberg, Celia Renata

doi:10.1080/09575146.2021.1904383

Cited by 10 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In Tal and Arnon (2018a)'s study, high SES Scottish and Israeli mothers' CDS included a greater proportion of words and utterances in variation sets than low SES mothers' CDS. Yet, in line with previous studies on other input measures (Stein, Menti & Rosemberg, 2021;Sperry et al, 2019;Weisleder & Fernald, 2013), variability was high in both social groups. SES differences were also found in the pragmatic function of the variation sets produced by the Scottish mothers: middle SES children heard more variation sets with an ideational function (that is, to provide information) than their low SES peers (Tal & Arnon, 2018b).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Variation sets used with a regulatory function may help this purpose (Küntay & Slobin, 2002) The beta regression analysis employed in this study revealed significant intra group variance in low SES both in the proportion of variation sets and in the pragmatic functions. Within variability in socioeconomic groups was previously observed not only by Tal and Arnon (2018a) in relation to variation sets, but also by research focusing on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of input at a global level (Stein, Menti & Rosemberg, 2021;Sperry et al, 2019;Weisleder & Fernald, 2013). Intra group variability reveals that SES groups, and specially low SES, are not homogeneous, and point out the need to delve further into other socio-demographic and cultural characteristics of each social group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…In a previous work Stein et al (2021) showed SES differences in the proportion of CDS in these Argentinian households: middle SES children hear a greater proportion of CDS than low SES children. As the quantity of variation sets could be affected by these SES differences in the quantity of the CDS, we considered, in line with Tal and Arnon's study (2018a), the proportion of words and utterances (directed to the child) included in variation sets over the total amount of words and utterances in the CDS.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 88%

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Variation sets in the speech directed to toddlers in Argentinian households.SES and type of activity effects

et al. 2021

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The study adopts a naturalistic perspective, looking at the relationship between socio-economic status (SES), activities and variation sets in child-directed speech (CDS) to Spanish-speaking Argentinian toddlers. It aims to determine the effect of SES and type of activity on the proportion of words and utterances in variation sets and on the pragmatic function they serve in interaction. Thirty two children (mean: 14.3 months) and their families were audio-recorded for four hours and the middle two hours were analyzed using CLAN. We developed an automatic algorithm for variation sets extraction that compares noun, verb and adjective lexemes in successive utterances. Mixed-effects beta regression showed SES and activity type effects on the proportion of variation sets and on the pragmatic function served by variation sets. Findings revealed that the contextual variables considered impact on how interlocutors organize the information to young children at the local level of natural at home interactions.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 88%

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Variation sets in the speech directed to toddlers in Argentinian households.SES and type of activity effects

et al. 2021

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“…For example, Sperry et al (2019) found that the total amount of linguistic input was actually higher for children from the poor Black Belt region of the United States than for their high-SES peers. Similarly, in a less WEIRD context, Stein et al (2021) found that although low-SES children learning Argentinian Spanish received less child-directed speech than their counterparts from middle-SES families, the former were exposed to more linguistic input overall through overheard speech. It is important to bear in mind that both toddlers (e.g., Gampe et al, 2012) and older children (e.g., Silva et al, 2010) are able to learn language from overheard speech.…”

Section: Within-language Comparisonsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Toward a Comparative Approach to Language Acquisition

Christiansen

Kallens

Trecca

2022

Curr Dir Psychol Sci

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The world’s languages vary in almost every conceivable way, yet children readily learn their native language. Understanding how children can acquire such a diversity of different languages has been a long-standing goal for psychological science, yet current acquisition research is dominated by studies of children learning one particular language: English. In this article, we argue that progress toward this goal will require systematic comparisons between different languages. We propose three levels of comparison: coarse-grained comparisons contrasting unrelated languages to confirm or refute broad theoretical claims, fine-grained comparisons between closely related languages to investigate the impact of specific factors on acquisition outcomes, and within-language comparisons targeting the impact of socio-communicative differences on learning. This three-pronged comparative approach to language acquisition promises to provide new insights into the mechanisms and processes by which children acquire their native tongue under such varied linguistic and socio-communicative conditions.

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“…Sus resultados han proporcionado evidencias de la importancia tanto de la cantidad como de las cualidades del habla a la que los niños acceden tempranamente en su entorno (HART; RISLEY, 1995;HOFF, 2003HOFF, , 2006HUTTENLOCHER et al, 2002;KÜNTAY;SLOBIN, 2002;LIEVEN, 2010;ROWE, 2008;TOMASELLO, 2003;entre otras). Dentro de estas investigaciones, varios estudios han distinguido entre el habla dirigida al niño (HDN) y el habla que se produce a su alrededor pero que no está dirigida a él (CASILLAS et al, 2017;ROSEMBERG et al, 2020;GOLDIN MEADOW, 2012;SHNEIDMAN et al, 2013;WITTEBOLLE, 2013;STEIN et al, 2021). La evidencia obtenida hasta el presente indica que la cantidad de habla dirigida al niño (HDN) constituye un mejor predictor del desarrollo lingüístico que el habla no dirigida a él y que el total del habla en su entorno (SHNEIDMAN et al, 2013;GOLDIN MEADOW, 2012; Entre los estudios que se han abocado al HDN un número importante de trabajos han estudiado aspectos específicamente lingüísticos, tales como la complejidad sintáctica, la diversidad léxica, y el tipo de palabras tanto para identificar diferencias entre grupos sociales y culturales (HUTTENLOCHER et al, 2007;ROWE;PAN;AYOUB, 2005; SHNEIDMAN; GOLDIN-MEADOW, 2012) como para dar cuenta del impacto de estas características en el desarrollo del lenguaje infantil (para una revisión de investigaciones ver HOFF, 2006;PACE et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified