vocabulary spurt in other languages and other contexts

[Leach, Diane (NIH/NICHD)]

Hi Ping Li.

This article may answer part of your question:

Bornstein, M. H., Cote, L. R., Maital, S., Painter, K., Park, S-Y., Pascual,
L., Pecheux, M-G., Ruel, J., Venuti, P., & Vyt, A. (2004). Cross-Linguistic
Analysis of Vocabulary in Young Children: Spanish, Dutch, French, Hebrew,
Italian, Korean, and American English. Child Development, 75(4), 1115-1139.

Diane

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Diane B. Leach, Ph.D.
Statistician
Child and Family Research, NICHD, NIH
6705 Rockledge Drive, Suite 8030
Bethesda, MD 20892
301-496-6291 phone
301-496-2766 fax
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-----Original Message-----
From: Ping Li [mailto:pli at richmond.edu]
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 10:25 AM
To: info-childes at mail.talkbank.org
Subject: vocabulary spurt in other languages and other contexts


Dear Colleagues,

In English there has been a significant number of empirical studies of
'vocabulary spurt' or 'naming explosion'  (from Stern 1924 to Ganger & Brent
2004), although findings and arguments vary widely on the timing, shape, and
function of this phenomenon.  I wonder to what extent this research interest
is pursued in the study of other languages and in other contexts.
Specifically, I am asking (1) whether vocabulary spurt has been similary
observed in languages other than English, (2) whether it has been observed
in early bilingualism/multilingualism, in one or the other or all target
languages, and (3) whether vocabulary spurt occurs for children who show
delayed language profiles or specific language impairment (though perhaps
later than the normal course).

I would appreciate pointers and references for these questions. If there are
sufficient interesting responses, I will post a summary next week.

Many thanks.

Ping Li


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Ping Li, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Director, Cognitive Science Laboratory
Department of Psychology, University of Richmond
Richmond, VA 23173, USA
Email: pli at richmond.edu
Phone: (804) 289-8125 (O), 287-1236 (lab); Fax: (804) 287-1905
http://www.richmond.edu/~pli/  or  http://cogsci.richmond.edu/
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