Language acquisition is one of the currently much discussed topics in the field of psycholinguistics. Considerable space for future research can be seen in the development of vocabulary in Czech-speaking children. In our case, we are mainly interested in the meaning, i.e. the content of acquired words (concepts), and the role of so-called semantic features in mental representation.
The intended goal of our research is to bring new information from the above-mentioned area, to confirm or disprove some existing theoretical statements and to compare the results of foreign research with data obtained using the Czech language material. Similar research has been conducted in various world languages, but so far there are not many papers that address the issue in the Czech language environment. As part of our work, a comprehensive database of semantic features for selected concepts has been prepared. This database has been statistically processed and subsequently the data has been analyzed and interpreted on the basis of theories about the development of the child's speech competence. This material, obtained from children aged 8-9 (lower primary school) growing up in a Czech language environment, has been used in the next phase of research, in which an experiment with subjects belonging to the same age category has been performed: in a semantic task based on the phenomenon called semantic priming, the effect of featural similarity of two concepts on decision in a speeded task has been observed.
The results of the research expand the range of information published so far in this scientific field in the Czech environment. This research can provide valuable insights into children's language acquisition issues. The data gathered can also be practically beneficial not only for teachers, psychologists and speech therapists, but also for parents, for example.
Validita řečových vzorků získaných strukturovanými elicitačními procedurami v češtině
Některé standardizované diagnostické metody pro vyšetření slovní zásoby se opírají o to, jaké děti definují zadaná slova. Tato studie použila definice, které děti (N=135) poskytly v subtestu slovník z WPPSI, k prozkoumání strukturních vlastností jejich jazykové produkce. Při analýze byly použity metody analýzy řečových vzorků, přičemž cílem bylo testovat validitu indexů řečových vzorků jako je průměrná délka věty (MLU). Výsledky dokládají, že řečové vzorky získané během standardizovaných testových interakcí lze použít jako data pro analýzu, i když neposkytují tak bohatý zdroj informací jako vzorky získané ve spontánní interakci. MLU vykazovalo statisticky významkou korelaci se skóry porozumění syntaxi z testu TROG a z experiementálního testu ohýbání slov v produkci. Průměrný výskyt tvarů slovesa být v jedné větě vykazoval ještě silnější souvislost s testy gramatického vývoje než MLU. Korelace mezi indexy získanými z řečových vzorků a testy gramatického vývoje byly obecně poměrně nízké (kolem 0.3), ale vzhledem k počtu probandů vysoce statisticky významné. Potvrdilo se tak, že MLU a další indexy řečových vzorků jsou citlivými měřítky gramatického vývoje v češtině. and Objectives. Test the use of language samples elicited during the presentation of standardized psychometric methods for the diagnostics of language development using methods for language sample analysis. Validate the use of Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) against standardized measures of grammatical development in a sample of children of the same age.
Subjects and settings. Total of 135 children aged on average 72.2 months (SD=3.7) participated. Linguistic productions of the children during the administration of the WPPSI vocabulary subtest were analyzed. This language sample was used for calculating the MLU and other indices. Additionally, children were administered Czech adaptations of standardized tests of grammatical development: TROG-2 for sentence comprehension and a test of morphological production.
Hypotheses. MLU and other sample-derived indices should show significant relationships between the test measures of grammatical comprehension and production.
Statistical analyses. Correlations, linear regression models.
Results. There were signficant relationships between MLU and the tests of grammar comprehension and morphological production. The number of be-forms and prepositions per utterance were also related to the grammar tests. MLU was independently predicted by both grammar comprehension and the production of grammatical morphology. The results show validity of MLU in a sample of same-age children, which is rare in the available literature.
Study limitations. The language samples provided by children’s definitions differed widely in size and style, which may underestimate the relationships between MLU and grammatical test measures.