Hostname: page-component-55f67697df-q9hcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-13T08:17:05.005Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A bilingual–monolingual comparison of young children's vocabulary size: Evidence from comprehension and production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2013

ANNICK DE HOUWER ,
MARC H. BORNSTEIN  and
DIANE L. PUTNICK
ANNICK DE HOUWER*
Affiliation:
Erfurt University and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
MARC H. BORNSTEIN
Affiliation:
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
DIANE L. PUTNICK
Affiliation:
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Annick De Houwer, Sprachwissenschaft, Erfurt University, Erfurt D-99089, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It is often assumed that young bilinguals are lexically delayed in comparison to monolinguals. A comprehensive comparison of comprehension and production vocabulary in 31 firstborn bilingual and 30 matched monolingual children fails to find empirical foundation for this assumption. Several raters completed Dutch and French adaptations of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories for children aged 13 and 20 months. At 13 months, bilinguals understood more words than did monolinguals; at 20 months, monolinguals knew more Dutch words than did bilinguals (combining comprehension and production). There were no group differences for word production or for Dutch word comprehension. Both groups understood and produced the same number of lexicalized meanings; ratios of word comprehension to word production did not differ; interindividual variation was similar. This study underscores the importance of conducting bilingual–monolingual comparisons with matched groups and suggests that if individual bilingual children appear to be slow in early vocabulary development, reasons other than their bilingualism should be investigated.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 35 , Issue 6 , November 2014 , pp. 1189 - 1211
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Águila, E., Ramon, M., Pons, F., & Bosch, L. (2005). Efecto de la exposición bilingüe sobre el desarrollo léxico inicial. In Mayor Cinca, A., Zubiauz de Pedro, B., & Díez-Villoria, E. (Eds.), Estudios sobre la adquisición del lenguaje. Salamanca, Spain: Universidad de Salamanca.Google Scholar
Águila, E., Ramon-Casas, M., Pons, F., & Bosch, L. (2007). La medida del léxico productivo inicial: Aplicación de un cuestionario para la población bilingüe. In Diez-Itza, E. (Ed.), Estudios de desarrollo del lenguaje y educación (Vol. 32). Oviedo, Spain: ICE Monografias de Aula Abierta.Google Scholar
Baldwin, D. A., & Moses, L. J. (2001). Links between social understanding and early word learning: Challenges to current accounts. Social Development, 10, 309–329.Google Scholar
Barreña, A., Ezeizabarrena, M.-J., & García, I. (2008). Influence of the linguistic environment on the development of the lexicon and grammar of Basque bilingual children. In Pérez-Vidal, C., Juan-Garau, M., & Bel, A. (Eds.), A portrait of the young in the new multilingual Spain: Issues in the acquisition of two or more languages in multilingual environments. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Bates, E., Dale, P., & Thal, D. (1995). Individual differences and their implications for theories of language development. In Fletcher, P. & MacWhinney, B. (Eds.), Handbook of child language. London: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M., Green, D. W., & Gollan, T. H. (2009). Bilingual minds. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 10, 89–129.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., Luk, G., Peets, K., & Yang, S. (2010). Receptive vocabulary differences in monolingual and bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13, 525–531.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bornstein, M. H., Hahn, C.-S., & Haynes, O. M. (2004). Specific and general language performance across early childhood: Stability and gender considerations. First Language, 24, 267–304.Google Scholar
Bornstein, M. H., Putnick, D. L., & De Houwer, A. (2006). Child vocabulary across the second year: Stability and continuity for reporter comparisons and a cumulative score. First Language, 26, 299–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bridges, K., & Hoff, E. (2008). The role of siblings in the English language development of bilingual toddlers in the U.S. In Chan, H., Kapia, E., & Jacob, H. (Eds.), A supplement to the Proceedings of the 32nd Boston University Conference on Language Development. Boston: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Clark, E. V. (1993). The lexicon in acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
De Houwer, A. (1990). The acquisition of two languages from birth: A case study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
De Houwer, A. (2006). Bilingual development in the early years. In Brown, K. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of language and linguistics (2nd ed.). Oxford: Elsevier.Google Scholar
De Houwer, A. (2009). Bilingual first language acquisition. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
De Houwer, A. (2010). Assessing lexical development in bilingual first language acquisition: What can we learn from monolingual norms? In Cruz-Ferreira, M. (Ed.), Multilingual norms. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
De Houwer, A., Bornstein, M. H., & De Coster, S. (2006). Early understanding of two words for the same thing: A CDI study of lexical comprehension in infant bilinguals. International Journal of Bilingualism, 10, 331–347.Google Scholar
De Houwer, A., Bornstein, M. H., & Leach, D. B. (2005). Assessing early communicative ability: A cross-reporter cumulative score for the MacArthur CDI. Journal of Child Language, 32, 735–758.Google Scholar
Doyle, A., Champagne, M., & Segalowitz, N. (1977). Some issues in the assessment of linguistic consequences of early bilingualism. Working Papers on Bilingualism, 14, 21–30.Google Scholar
Fenson, L., Dale, P., Reznick, J. S., Bates, E., Thal, D., & Pethick, S. (1994). Variability in early communicative development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(5, Serial No. 242).Google Scholar
Fenson, L., Dale, P., Reznick, S., Thal, D., Bates, E., Hartung, J., et al. (1993). MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories: User's guide and technical manual. San Diego, CA: Singular.Google Scholar
Genesee, F. (2007). A short guide to raising children bilingually. Multilingual Living Magazine, January–February, 1–9.Google Scholar
Hart, B., & Risley, T. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experiences of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Paul Brookes.Google Scholar
Hoff, E., Core, C., Place, S., Rumiche, R., Señor, M., & Parra, M. (2012). Dual language exposure and early bilingual development. Journal of Child Language, 39, 1–27.Google Scholar
Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1998). The relation of birth order and socioeconomic status to children's language experience and language development. Applied Psycholinguistics, 19, 603–629.Google Scholar
Hollingshead, A. B. (1975). The Four-Factor Index of Social Status. Unpublished manuscript, Yale University.Google Scholar
Jackson-Maldonado, D., & Bates, E. (1988). Inventario del desarollo de las habilidades communicativas. San Diego: University of California, Center for Research on Language.Google Scholar
Jackson-Maldonado, D., Thal, D., Fenson, L., Marchman, V., Newton, T., & Conboy, B. (2003). El inventario del desarollo de las habilidades communicativas: User's guide and technical manual. Baltimore, MD: Paul Brookes.Google Scholar
Junker, D., & Stockman, I. (2002). Expressive vocabulary of German–English bilingual toddlers. American Journal of Speech–Language Pathology, 11, 381–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kern, S. (2007). Lexicon development in French-speaking infants. First Language, 27, 227–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kern, S., & Gayraud, F. (2007). Influence of preterm birth on early lexical and grammatical acquisition. First Language, 27, 159–173.Google Scholar
Kern, S., & Gayraud, F. (2010). L'inventaire français du développement communicatif. Grenoble: La Cigale.Google Scholar
King, K., & Mackey, A. (2007). The bilingual edge: Why, when, and how to teach your child a second language. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Lee, J. (2011). Size matters: Early vocabulary as a predictor of language and literacy competence. Applied Psycholinguistics, 32, 69–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchman, V. A., & Martínez-Sussmann, C. (2002). Concurrent validity of caregiver/parent report measures of language for children who are learning both English and Spanish. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 45, 983–998.Google Scholar
Meisel, J. (1989). Early differentiation of languages in bilingual children. In Hyltenstam, K. & Obler, L. (Eds.), Bilingualism across the lifespan: Aspects of acquisition, maturity and loss. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Oller, D. K., Pearson, B. Z., & Cobo-Lewis, A. B. (2007). Profile effects in early bilingual language and literacy. Applied Psycholinguistics, 28, 191–230.Google Scholar
Pearson, B. Z., Fernández, S., Lewedeg, V., & Oller, D. K. (1997). The relation of input factors to lexical learning by bilingual infants. Applied Psycholinguistics, 18, 41–58.Google Scholar
Pearson, B. Z., Fernández, S., & Oller, D. K. (1993). Lexical development in bilingual infants and toddlers: Comparison to monolingual norms. Language Learning, 43, 93–120.Google Scholar
Pérez-Pereira, M., Resches, M., & Fernández, P. (2006). Differences in language development between monolingual (Galician) and bilingual (Galician-Spanish) children. In Eriksson, M. (Ed.), Proceedings from the First European Network Meeting on the Communicative Development Inventories. Gävle, Sweden: University of Gävle.Google Scholar
Rimel, A., & Eyal, S. (1996). Comparison of data on the lexical knowledge of bilingual vs. monolingual toddlers collected by their parents, using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (CDI). Speech and Hearing Disorders, 19, 212–219.Google Scholar
Song, L., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Yoshikawa, H., Kahana-Kalman, R., & Wu, I. (2012). Language experiences and vocabulary development in Dominican and Mexican infants across the first 2 years. Developmental Psychology, 48, 1106–1123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swain, M. (1972). Bilingualism as a first language. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California.Google Scholar
Thordardottir, E., Rothenberg, A., Rivard, M.-E., & Naves, R. (2006). Bilingual assessment: Can overall proficiency be estimated from separate measurement of two languages? Journal of Multilingual Communication Disorders, 4, 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsao, F. M., Liu, H. M., & Kuhl, P. K. (2004). Speech perception in infancy predicts language development in the second year of life: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 75, 1067–1084.Google Scholar
Vagh, S. B., Pan, B. A., & Mancilla-Martinez, J. (2009). Measuring growth in bilingual and monolingual children's English productive vocabulary development: The utility of combining parent and teacher report. Child Development, 80, 1545–1563.Google Scholar
Zink, I., & Lejaegere, M. (2002). N-CDIs: Lijsten voor communicatieve ontwikkeling—Aanpassing en hernormering van de MacArthur CDIs van Fenson et al. Leuven: Acco.Google Scholar