Lexical-Semantic Development in Bilingual Toddlers at 18 and 24 Months

Overview

Journal Front Psychol

Date 2021 Jan 4

PMID 33391064

Citations 3

Authors

Stephanie De Anda

Margaret Friend

Affiliations

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Abstract

An important question in early bilingual first language acquisition concerns the development of lexical-semantic associations within and across two languages. The present study investigates the earliest emergence of lexical-semantic priming at 18 and 24 months in Spanish-English bilinguals ( = 32) and its relation to vocabulary knowledge within and across languages. Results indicate a remarkably similar pattern of development between monolingual and bilingual children, such that lexical-semantic development begins at 18 months and strengthens by 24 months. Further, measures of cross-language lexical knowledge are stronger predictors of children's lexical-semantic processing skill than measures that capture single-language knowledge only. This suggests that children make use of both languages when processing semantic information. Together these findings inform the understanding of the relation between lexical-semantic breadth and organization in the context of dual language learners in early development.

Citing Articles

Learning Words in Two Languages: Manipulating Exemplar Variability for Within- and Cross-Language Generalization.

De Anda S, Ellis E, Mejia N J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2022; 65(4):1450-1464.

PMID: 35235376 PMC: 9499345. DOI: 10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00350.

Psychometric Properties of the English-Spanish Vocabulary Inventory in Toddlers With and Without Early Language Delay.

De Anda S, Cycyk L, Moore H, Huerta L, Larson A, King M J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2022; 65(2):672-691.

PMID: 34990558 PMC: 9132146. DOI: 10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00240.

Crosslinguistic Influence (CLI) of Lexical Breadth and Depth in the Vocabulary of Bilingual Kindergarten Children - A Bilingual Intervention Study.

Lipner M, Armon-Lotem S, Walters J, Altman C Front Psychol. 2021; 12:671928.

PMID: 34658996 PMC: 8516401. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.671928.

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