Individual differences in discourse priming

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas Koch ◽  
Antje Endesfelder Quick ◽  
Stefan Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Linguistic Development ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Direct Input ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance

Abstract In this paper we use corpora of four monolingual German-speaking children at 2 years of age to analyze the effect of input on the activation of chunks and frame-and-slot patterns. For this purpose, we first investigate to what extent chunks and patterns can be traced back to the direct input compared to input which is not part of the immediate discourse situation. Second, we take mean length of utterance (MLU) into account to see how the level of proficiency influences the amount of priming in each child. Results indicate that children with a lower MLU rely more on priming than children who are more proficient. This conclusion is consistent with the usage-based assumption that children’s linguistic development starts with a strongly item-based reproduction of input patterns that gradually gives rise to increasingly creative and productive uses of constructions.

Early vocabulary, parental education, and the frequency of shared reading as predictors of toddler's vocabulary and grammar at age 2;7: a Slovenian longitudinal CDI study

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 457-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
LJUBICA MARJANOVIČ-UMEK ◽  
URŠKA FEKONJA-PEKLAJ ◽  
GREGOR SOČAN
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
Shared Reading ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Sentence Complexity ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance

AbstractThe aim of this longitudinal study, carried out on a sample of Slovenian-speaking toddlers, was to analyze developmental changes and stability in early vocabulary development; to establish relations between toddler's vocabulary and grammar; and to analyze the effects of parental education and the frequency of shared reading on toddlers' vocabulary and grammar. The sample included fifty-one toddlers, aged 1;4 at the time of the first, and 2;7 at the time of the last, assessment. Toddlers' vocabulary and grammar were assessed six times during a 15-month period using the Slovenian adaptation of the CDI. Our findings suggest great individual differences in both size and rate of toddlers' vocabulary development. Toddlers' vocabulary scores remained relatively stable across a 3-month period. Early vocabulary at 1;7 predicted vocabulary, sentence complexity, and mean length of utterance (MLU) at 2;7, while the frequency of shared reading mediated the effect of parental education on toddlers' vocabulary and grammar at 2;7.

scholarly journals National-cultural specificity of Austrian German in the spheres of economy, policy and law

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 131-137
Author(s):  
T. A. Yakovleva
Keyword(s):  
German Language ◽  
Pedagogical Practice ◽  
Literary Language ◽  
Linguistic Development ◽  
Cultural Specificity ◽  
The Status ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Politics And Law ◽  
Political Vocabulary

The article is devoted to the study of the national-cultural specifics of the German language in Austria in the fields of economics, politics and law. The introduction examines the pluricentric and pluriareal approaches to considering the status of Austrian German, which differ in understanding the language and the way it is described, emphasizes the role of the Bavarian-Austrian dialects in the formation of the German literary language and gives factors that influenced the linguistic development of Austria. The author introduces the typology of culturally-marked vocabulary. The study provides examples of full equivalents in German German and Austrian German, Austrian tokens, which serve to express concepts that are not in German culture and are denoted by the term ‘equivalent vocabulary’ and partially equivalent lexemes having a mismatch in the volume of denotative meaning. The main content of the study is to analyze the national-cultural specifics in the Austrian national version of the German language in the framework of the thematic groups “Economic vocabulary”, “Socio-political vocabulary” and “Legal vocabulary”. The results of this study may be of interest for use in linguistic studies courses in German-speaking countries and in pedagogical practice, as well as find application in lexicography.

Phonology and grammatical morphology in specific language impairment: Accounting for individual variation in English and Italian

1996 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Umberta Bortolini ◽  
Laurence B. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Grammatical Morphology ◽  
Italian Children ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance

ABSTRACTChildren with specific language impairment (SLI) often show more limited use of grammatical morphology than younger, normally developing children matched according to mean length of utterance (MLU). However, within groups of children with SLI, individual differences are seen in grammatical morpheme use. In this study, we examined the role of weak syllable use in explaining some of these differences. Employing two different languages – English and Italian - children with SLI were placed into pairs. The children in each pair showed similar MLUs; however, one member of the pair showed a greater use of particular function words. In each of the pairs examined in both languages, the children with the greater use of function words also showed a greater use of weak syllables that did not immediately follow strong syllables. The weak syllable productions of children showing a more limited use of function words in each pair seemed to be dependent on a strong syllable-weak syllable production sequence. This sequence appeared to be operative across several prosodic levels, as defined within the framework of prosodic phonology. Because weak syllables that follow strong syllables usually have longer durations than those that precede strong syllables, the findings might have a perceptual basis. However, the results raise the possibility that limitations in prosody can restrict the degree of grammatical morpheme use by children with SLI.

‘Mommy sock’: the child's understanding of possession as expressed in two-noun phrases

1980 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff ◽  
Joan Markessini
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Linguistic Development ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance ◽  
Age Range

ABSTRACTThirty children with a mean length of utterance ranging from 1·00 to 4 and an age range of 1; 7 to 5; 5 were tested by their own mothers for comprehension of two-noun possessive phrases such as mommy's shoe. Three types of possessive relationships (alienable, intrinsic and reciprocal) in addition to anomalous possessive phrases were used to uncover children's knowledge of the semantics and syntax of English possession. Results indicated, first, that even young children may have detailed notions of which objects are likely to serve as possessors and which as possessions, and second, that word order may not be used to comprehepossessive phrases until considerable linguistic development has occurred.

Constructively combining languages

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Endesfelder Quick ◽  
Elena Lieven ◽  
Ad Backus ◽  
Michael Tomasello
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Preference ◽  
Type Analysis ◽  
Objective Measurements ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Construction Type ◽  
Language Context ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance

Abstract Language development in bilingual children is often related to differing levels of proficiency. Objective measurements of bilingual development include for example mean length of utterance (MLU). MLU is almost always calculated for each language context (including both monolingual and code-mixed utterances). In the current study, we analyzed the MLUs of three German-English bilingual children, aged 2;3–3;11 separately for the monolingual and code-mixed utterances. Our results showed that language preference was reflected in MLU values: the more children spoke in one language the higher the MLU was in that language. However, it was the mixed utterances that had the highest MLU for all three children. We support the results with a construction type analysis and suggest a potential usage-based explanation for these results based on individual differences in each child’s developmental inventory of words and constructions.

The challenge of accounting for individual differences in folk-economic beliefs

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin C. Ruisch ◽  
Rajen A. Anderson ◽  
David A. Pizarro
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
Economic Beliefs ◽  
Existing Data

AbstractWe argue that existing data on folk-economic beliefs (FEBs) present challenges to Boyer & Petersen's model. Specifically, the widespread individual variation in endorsement of FEBs casts doubt on the claim that humans are evolutionarily predisposed towards particular economic beliefs. Additionally, the authors' model cannot account for the systematic covariance between certain FEBs, such as those observed in distinct political ideologies.

Individual differences, social attention, and the history of the social motivation hypotheses of autism

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter C. Mundy
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Emotional Development ◽  
Social Motivation ◽  
Social Attention ◽  
Social Emotional Development ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Precise Understanding ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

Abstract The stereotype of people with autism as unresponsive or uninterested in other people was prominent in the 1980s. However, this view of autism has steadily given way to recognition of important individual differences in the social-emotional development of affected people and a more precise understanding of the possible role social motivation has in their early development.

Elaborating the role of reflection and individual differences in the study of folk-economic beliefs

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Arceneaux
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
History Of ◽  
Economic Beliefs

AbstractIntuitions guide decision-making, and looking to the evolutionary history of humans illuminates why some behavioral responses are more intuitive than others. Yet a place remains for cognitive processes to second-guess intuitive responses – that is, to be reflective – and individual differences abound in automatic, intuitive processing as well.

Inter-individual variation shapes the human microbiome

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily F. Wissel ◽  
Leigh K. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Human Microbiome ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Microbiota Composition ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Microbiome Research

Abstract The target article suggests inter-individual variability is a weakness of microbiota-gut-brain (MGB) research, but we discuss why it is actually a strength. We comment on how accounting for individual differences can help researchers systematically understand the observed variance in microbiota composition, interpret null findings, and potentially improve the efficacy of therapeutic treatments in future clinical microbiome research.

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