Statistical properties of early expressive vocabulary development of Cantonese-speaking children between 16-30 months

Abstract

Data from the Chinese Communicative Development Inventory (Cantonese version) (CCDI) was used in examining the relationship of lexical properties with age and vocabulary size in Cantonese-speaking children between 16-30 months. The properties include word class (WC), semantic category (SC), number of syllables (NOS), syllable structure (SS) and tone. Data from 987 children were analyzed in observing the correlation between the variables and the pattern shown as age and vocabulary size change. All properties demonstrated significant correlation with both age and vocabulary size. Regarding the respective pattern shown, WC demonstrated noun dominance in the entire corpus of words produced, with more verbs being produced when the opportunities provided by the CCDI is being considered. For SC, an order of acquisition can be observed from animate to inanimate objects, followed by other non-discrete word-items. For NOS, dominance of reduplicated 2-syllable words was observed in the early ages, and words with larger NOS, as well as words of higher articulatory complexity in terms of their SS and tones were produced in a later stage in a lower proportion, with an order of acquisition observed. The patterns might be attributed to both universal and language-specific theories.