The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of the quantity of adult language input on their deaf and hard-of-hearing preschool children and to explore the effects, if any, on the child’s quantity of language, vocabulary development, and basic concept understanding. Using audio recording and the Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) software, the study involved 30 preschool children with hearing loss who used spoken language as their communication modality and 7 children with normal hearing. Their language and the language spoken to them in all waking-hours of a two-day period (16 hours per day) were recorded and analyzed quantitatively as adult word counts (AWC), child vocalizations (CVC), and conversational turns (CTC). These components were compared to the child’s performance on the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (BTBC-3) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-4) to investigate if the quantity of language input had an effect on the child’s usage of vocabulary and basic concepts. Correlations were found between the amount of adult words, child vocalizations, and conversational turns across weekends and weekdays, but not on BTBC-3 or PPVT-4 scores. Interestingly, there were no significant differences between adult word counts and child vocalizations as a function of the child’s hearing loss, indicating parents of deaf or hard-of-hearing children are using as many words with their children as parents of children with normal hearing. Additionally, scores on the BTBC-3 and PPVT-4 were correlated with each other, but there wasn’t a statistically significant difference between the mean scores for children with normal hearing and the children with hearing loss, indicating both groups scored similarly on the assessment. Results from this study suggest the language used around children impacts their language use and the amount of interactions they have in their environment. This is significant because it identifies the influence of the quantity of adult language input on the child’s language development.

In 2 experiments, I tested the effects of a behavioral momentum blending procedure on the accuracy of component and composite textual and spelling responses emitted by 11 preschool students with disabilities, including autism and speech and language delays, using multiple probe designs across participants. The participants were between 3 and 4 years old and were selected to participate because they were receiving reading instruction, but they emitted low numbers of correct textual responses to words comprised of previously mastered phoneme-grapheme correspondences. Dependent measures in the experiment included blending responses to novel text stimuli, composite vocal blending responses in which no textual stimuli were used, and spelling responses. In addition, in Experiment 2, I tested the effects of the procedure on the reinforcing properties of textual stimuli. Prior to the intervention, the participants were taught to textually respond to a set of known, regular words comprised of up to five phonemic sounds represented by corresponding graphemes at a target rate (number per min). During the behavioral momentum blending intervention, participants responded to these words that were presented in rapid succession by the experimenter, followed by the immediate presentation of novel words. The experimenter provided a vocal model of the component phonemes which was systematically faded during each phase of the intervention. Results for Experiment 1 showed increases in textual, spelling, and vocal blending responses for five participants. In addition, results indicated that the participants textually responded to novel words and emitted more composite textual responses, or responses without emitting the component sounds prior to textually responding, when composite blending was modeled at the beginning of the probe session. In Experiment 2, I altered the intervention procedure to require composite only responding as a final step in the instructional sequence. Six new preschool students were selected to participate, and the dependent measures were the same as Experiment 1; however, I also tested for the presence of conditioned reinforcement for observing print prior to and following BMBI. Results showed significant effects for four of the participants following up to two phases of intervention but were less significant for two of the participants. Additionally, results indicated the establishment of conditioned reinforcement for observing print for the participants who textually responded at criterion level. These findings are discussed with regard to the educational significance of blending as a prerequisite for textual responding and the importance of the speaker-as-own-listener verbal repertoire in learning to read phonetically.

In 2 experiments, I analyzed relations between the presence of Bidirectional Naming (BiN) and the establishment of arbitrary and non-arbitrary relational responses. In Experiment I, I analyzed the presence and strength of correlations between Bidirectional Naming and the establishment of derived relations for 31 preschool students. For Bidirectional Naming, the participants’ responses to both familiar and unfamiliar stimuli were measured; familiar stimuli were defined as spoken and visual stimuli that may be commonly present in the participants’ environment, while unfamiliar stimuli were contrived spoken and visual stimuli that were not customarily present in the participants’ environment. For relational responses, a non-arbitrary relation was defined as a relation that can be made based on the formal characteristics of the stimuli, while an arbitrary relation would be based on verbally mediated contextual cues. Data from this experiment showed there was an overall positive correlation between the demonstration of Bidirectional Naming and the establishment of derived relations, r = .847, p < .001. Moreover, there was a strong positive correlation between Bidirectional Naming with unfamiliar stimuli and arbitrarily derived relations, r = .823, p < .001. In Experiment II, I studied the establishment of arbitrary visual-visual and auditory-visual relations for 18 preschool students. The participants were split into 3 equal groups based on their degree of Bidirectional Naming; the groups consisted of 6 participants that demonstrated Bidirectional Naming, 6 participants that demonstrated Unidirectional Naming (UniN), and 6 participants that demonstrated a low degree of Bidirectional Naming. A comparison of the mean correct responses, between experimental groups, showed a significant difference for auditory-visual relations, F(2,15) = 36.63, p < .001, as well as visual-visual relations, F(2,15) = 4.11, p = .038. These data suggest that simpler (i.e., auditory-visual) derived relations are present with Unidirectional Naming; however, the joining of the listener and speaker repertoires (i.e., Bidirectional Naming) may be necessary for the development of more complex (i.e., visual-visual) derived relations. The results of these experiments suggest strong associations between the incidental acquisition of words and the incidental acquisition of language relations. The results also provide more evidence for how the establishment of Bidirectional Naming may lead to an individual learning at accelerated rates and in new ways.

The problem of this study is to see if there is more symbolic language transfer by autistic children in an untrained matching situation if there has been previous training on similar matching situations. The purposes of the study are twofold. The first is to see if subjects will make a motor sign response untrained to an object if the word for the object has been trained to the motor sign response and to see if they will make a motor sign response untrained to a word for an object if they have been trained to make the response to the object named. The second is to see, if transfer occurs, whether the order presentations of object and word are a factor.

本文研究兩位粤英雙語兒童的詞彙發展，當中以研究他們的名詞及動詞發展模式為主。在過往關於兒童詞彙發展的文獻中，很多學者均對於名詞傾向(noun bias)是否屬於普遍存在(universal)的現象，存着不少的討論。大部份學者於英語等語言中發現此名詞傾向，並認為是由於名詞概念對兒童而言較為明顯及容易掌握的緣故。然而，在普通話及粤語等語言中，學者並未能找出此名詞傾向，並認為原因是這些語言的結構特徵都比較強調動詞，例如代名詞省略(pro-drop)等。本文透過語料庫，追蹤性研究兩位粤英雙語兒童的詞彙發展，並把結果與相應的單語兒童作比較，從而討論詞類傾向的跨語言共性(universality)及語言特定(language-specific)的因素，以及在詞彙發展中的跨語言互動(cross-linguistic influence)。 / 本文的研究結果，顯示了在兒童的詞彙發展中，名詞傾向屬於語言特定(language-specific)的現象，而非所有語言的共性。在整段由1;06至3;00追蹤期之中，單語及雙語兒童的英語詞彙發展均持續地出現了名詞傾向的現象，而這現象並沒有在粤語中出現。英語的名詞比例平均維持在60%以上，英語名詞也發展得比動詞快。相反，在整段追蹤期之中，粤語的名詞比例均比英語的小。語言特定的因素(language-specific factors)，包括零論元是否被認可(licensing of null arguments)，以及名詞及動詞的詞彙化模式(lexicalization patterns of nouns and verbs)，能以解釋為何名詞傾向能在英語中找到，而不能在粤語中找到。 / 另外，本研究也發現粤英雙語兒童的詞彙發展中的跨語言互動(cross-linguistic influence)，他們粤英之間的名詞及動詞對應詞(translation equivalents)收窄了這兩種語言之間在名詞及動詞比例上的差異。英語方面，比例上，雙語兒童比單語兒童獲得更多動詞。由於粤語的語言結構特徵較強調動詞，因此雙語兒童首先獲得很多粤語動詞，這促使他們獲得這些動詞的英語對應詞(English equivalents)，從而降低了其英語名詞比例。而粤語方面，比例上，雙語兒童比單語兒童獲得更多名詞。由於英語的語言結構特徵較重視名詞，因此雙語兒童首先獲得很多英語名詞，這促使他們獲得這些名詞的粤語對應詞(Cantonese equivalents)，從而提升了其粤語名詞比例。 / This thesis investigates the lexical development in two Cantonese-English bilingual children, focusing on the developmental patterns of their nouns and verbs. In the literature, a controversial issue centres on whether the noun bias is universal in children’s lexical development. Many researchers have found a noun bias in English and other languages, and attributed it to the advantage that the concepts encoded by nouns are easier and more salient for children. However, the noun bias was not observed in children acquiring languages like Mandarin and Cantonese, and some researchers have attributed this to properties of these languages including pro-drop which favour verbs. We conduct a longitudinal corpus-based study of two bilingual children in comparison with their monolingual counterparts, to address the issues of universality and language-specific effects of word category bias and cross-linguistic influence at the lexical level. / The findings show evidence that the noun bias is language-specific but not universal in the lexical development of children. A noun bias was consistently shown in English but not in Cantonese for both monolingual and bilingual children throughout the period of investigation from 1;06 to 3;00. In English, the proportion of nouns to nouns + verbs remained greater than 60% on average and nouns always developed faster than verbs. In contrast, whereas the proportion of nouns to nouns + verbs in Cantonese remained lower than that in English for the entire period of investigation. We argue that language-specific factors such as the licensing of null arguments and the lexicalization patterns of nouns and verbs can account for the differences in the occurrence of noun bias in children’s lexical development in English and Cantonese. / Evidence for cross-linguistic influence is also observed in the lexical development in Cantonese-English bilingual children. Their translation equivalents for nouns and verbs between English and Cantonese narrow the differences in the proportion of nouns and verbs between these two languages. In English, the bilingual children acquired proportionately more verbs than their monolingual counterparts. Having acquired many verbs first in Cantonese, a pro-drop language which favours verbs, facilitated the bilingual children’s acquisition of the English equivalents of these verbs, leading to a decrease in the proportion of nouns to nouns + verbs in English. In Cantonese, the bilingual children had a greater proportion of nouns than their monolingual peers. Having acquired many nouns first in English, a non-pro-drop language which favours nouns, facilitated the bilingual children’s acquisition of the Cantonese equivalents of these nouns, resulting in the increase in the proportion of nouns to nouns + verbs in Cantonese. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Shum, Ka Yee. / "December 2012." / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-168). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts also in Chinese; includes Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgements --- p.v / List of Tables --- p.viii / List of Figures --- p.x / List of Abbreviations --- p.xii / Table of Contents --- p.xiii / Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- The “noun bias“ in early lexical development --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Definition of word categories --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Differences in the distinction of word categories across languages --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- Definitions of nouns and verbs --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Defining the “noun bias“ --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3.1 --- Criteria for “noun bias“ in the acquisition --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Criteria for “noun bias“ in this thesis --- p.7 / Chapter 1.4 --- Issues in bilingual lexical development --- p.9 / Chapter 1.5 --- Organization of the thesis --- p.11 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Issues in Early Lexical Development --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1 --- Gentner’s (1982) claim: The noun bias is universal --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Natural Partitions Hypothesis --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Relational Relativity Hypothesis --- p.15 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Gentner’s study of monolingual children acquiring six languages (1982) --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Gentner and Boroditsky’s study of Navajo-speaking children (2009) --- p.17 / Chapter 2.1.5 --- Other studies of monolingual children in favour of the noun bias --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2 --- Tardif’s (1996) claim: The noun bias is language-specific --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Tardif’s studies of monolingual children acquiring Chinese languages (1996, 2006b, 2008) --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Other monolingual studies arguing against the noun bias --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Factors leading to the non-existence of a noun bias --- p.29 / Chapter 2.3 --- Reasons for conflicting results --- p.34 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Different methods of sampling children’s vocabulary data --- p.34 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Different ages of the children --- p.35 / Chapter 2.4 --- Previous cross-linguistic longitudinal studies in lexical development --- p.36 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Liu’s comparative study of lexical development in English, Mandarin and Cantonese (2007) --- p.37 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Dhillon’s comparative study of lexical development in English, Spanish and Mandarin (2010) --- p.38 / Chapter 2.5 --- Previous studies of lexical development in bilingual children --- p.39 / Chapter 2.5.1 --- Bilingual studies involving two European languages --- p.40 / Chapter 2.5.2 --- Bilingual studies involving an European language and an Asian language --- p.41 / Chapter 2.6 --- Research Questions --- p.44 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- Hypotheses and Methodology --- p.46 / Chapter 3.1 --- Universality of early noun advantage --- p.46 / Chapter 3.2 --- Language-specific properties in relation to lexical category bias --- p.47 / Chapter 3.3 --- Cross-linguistic influence --- p.49 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Cross-linguistic influence in the domain of syntax --- p.49 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Cross-linguistic influence in the domain of lexicon --- p.50 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Language dominance --- p.51 / Chapter 3.4 --- Methodology --- p.52 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Subjects --- p.53 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- The monolingual and bilingual data --- p.56 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Classification of nouns and verbs in Cantonese and English --- p.57 / Chapter 3.4.4 --- Data analysis --- p.68 / Chapter 3.5 --- Summary --- p.73 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- Results and Discussion --- p.74 / Chapter 4.1 --- Lexical composition in early English --- p.75 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Number of noun types and verb types and N/(N+V) ratios in English --- p.75 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Number of noun tokens and verb tokens in English --- p.76 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Cumulative nouns and verbs in English --- p.77 / Chapter 4.1.4 --- Differences between Cantonese-English bilingual children and the monolingual English-speaking child --- p.79 / Chapter 4.1.5 --- Comparison between Cantonese-dominant and English-dominant bilingual children --- p.84 / Chapter 4.1.6 --- Summary --- p.84 / Chapter 4.2 --- Lexical composition in early Cantonese --- p.85 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Number of noun types and verb types and N/(N+V) ratios in Cantonese --- p.85 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Number of noun tokens and verb tokens in Cantonese --- p.87 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Cumulative nouns and verbs in Cantonese --- p.88 / Chapter 4.2.4 --- Differences between Cantonese-English bilingual children and the monolingual Cantonese-speaking child --- p.91 / Chapter 4.2.5 --- Comparison between Cantonese-dominant and English-dominant bilingual children --- p.95 / Chapter 4.2.6 --- Summary --- p.99 / Chapter 4.3 --- Translation equivalents of nouns and verbs in Cantonese-English bilingual children --- p.100 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- English nouns and verbs with Cantonese equivalents --- p.100 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Cantonese nouns and verbs with English equivalents --- p.104 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Summary --- p.109 / Chapter 4.4 --- Comparison of lexical composition between Cantonese and English of the bilingual children --- p.109 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Proportion of nouns to verbs on the basis of word types and cumulative development --- p.110 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Language-specific considerations in early lexical development --- p.113 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- Summary --- p.124 / Chapter 4.5 --- Analysis of morphological and syntactic markings on nouns and verbs in Cantonese-English bilingual children --- p.124 / Chapter 4.5.1 --- Morphological and syntactic markings on English nouns and verbs --- p.125 / Chapter 4.5.2 --- Morphological and syntactic markings on Cantonese nouns and verbs --- p.130 / Chapter 4.5.3 --- Summary --- p.141 / Chapter 4.6 --- Summary of major findings --- p.141 / Chapter Chapter 5: --- Conclusions --- p.145 / Chapter 5.1 --- Conclusions --- p.145 / Chapter 5.2 --- Limitations and suggestions for further research --- p.147 / Appendices --- p.149 / Chapter Appendix 1: --- Translation equivalents for nouns and verbs in Cantonese-English bilingual children --- p.149 / Chapter Appendix 2: --- Total tokens of five most frequent nouns and five most frequent verbs produced by each child in each language --- p.160 / References --- p.161

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The primary purpose of the present study was to compare the quality of spontaneous language samples elicited from twelve low socioeconomic, normally developing, migrant Spanish-speaking subjects by their mothers in the home and by this investigator in the clinic. The subjects ranged in age from three years, one month to six years, nine months.

The purpose of this study was to determine the significance of chronological age on the comprehension of spatial adjectives in children. Specifically, the investigation set out to determine the age levels at which children comprehend the polar forms of various spatial adjectives and to determine the difference in age levels of comprehension of unmarked versus marked adjective forms. Seventy children between the ages of two years, +/-2 months and eight years, + 2 months, selected on the basis of chronological age, normal receptive vocabulary recognition and normal hearing, participated as subjects.

The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference exists between mean standard scores of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - Revised (PPVT-R) (Dunn and Dunn, 1981) and the Expressive One- Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT) (Gardner, 1979) for children in several diagnostic categories. The subjects used in this study were 45 preschool children ranging in age from 36 to 47 months. These subjects were divided into groups of normal, expressively language-delayed (ELD) and normal children with a history of expressive language delay (HELD).

The purpose of this study was to determine if single-word elicitation procedures used in the assessment of phonological processes would have highly similar results to those obtained through connected speech. Connected speech sampling provides a medium for natural production with coarticulatory influence, but can be time-consuming and impractical for clinicians maintaining heavy caseloads or working with highly unintelligible children. Elicitation through single words requires less time than a connected-speech sample and may be more effective with highly unintelligible children because the context is known, but it lacks the influence of surrounding words. Given the inherent differences between these two methods of elicitation, knowledge of the relative effectiveness of single-word and connected-speech sampling may become an issue for clinicians operating under severe time constraints and requiring an efficient and effective means of assessing phonological processes.