The purpose of this thesis is to provide a review and discussion of the current literature on auditory processing, speech discrimination, word recognition, and early lexical representations in children with normal hearing and those with hearing impairment in addition to identifying areas in which current research is lacking. This information is needed to consider potential interactions between various factors affecting the development of spoken word recognition. This will also provide a starting point for identifying further research needs. Since children with hearing loss do not receive the same amount of exposure to speech and language as typically developing children, it can be expected that the development of speech and word recognition in this population may progress differently. If we can identify differences in auditory processing and phonological development in children with hearing impairment, we can modify speech and language therapy to focus on more specific and effective targets. The subsequent chapters will provide a critical review of the current literature on the aforementioned topics. In Chapters 2 and 3, studies assessing differences in processing, attention to sound, intersensory perception, and sound discrimination abilities in children with normal hearing and hearing impairment will be discussed. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on word recognition skills, and early lexical representations. Chapter 6 will synthesize results of available studies and suggest areas in which more research is needed. Together, these chapters will help us gain a better understanding of the complex interactions between auditory processing, executive functioning, phonological development and later word recognition outcomes. By identifying which avenues have the greatest effect on outcomes in cochlear implant users, we can modify speech and language therapy in order to address the unique needs of this special population. / text

The young learner’s lexicon is a predictor for its future success in school, and the organization of the lexicon needs to be well developed in order to give the learner efficient access to the words’ use and meaning. The purpose of the study is to investigate the word association pattern among 31 students in the second and the fifth grade in a multicultural Swedish school, and to try to explain these patterns in relation to variables such as age, gender, time spent in Sweden, linguistic background and the teachers’ assessment of the students’ abilities. The word association patterns were examined using a shortened version of the Kent and Rosanoff word association test. The results showed clear resemblances of word association patterns on a group level when compared to age, linguistic background and teachers’ assessment. However, there were big differences on an individual level. / <p>Svenska som andraspråk</p>

As Vygotsky (1986) concludes in his seminal work Thought and Language, “A word relates to consciousness as a living cell relates to a whole organism, as an atom relates to the universe. A word is a microcosm of human consciousness” (p. 246). Even without an in-depth understanding of science and only the most popular appreciation of the police procedural be it Sherlock Holmes or CSI, it is easy to see how a single cell can relate to the whole organism. But how can a word be a microcosm of human consciousness? The purpose of this study was to explore exactly that: premise, whether words reflect the lived experience of not only a person, but of a group of people, by documenting the lived experience of children in the phenomena of foreign language immersion in school (FLIIS). Using corpus linguistic techniques to analyze the nature of these children’s lexical development as well as the relationship of the perceptions of their fluency on their second language (L2) production, this study found that in order to understand the essence of what it means for a child to express him/herself fluently in his/her L2, one must understand how language functions as a transparent medium for these children and shift one’s thinking from an additive idea of language (L1, L2, L3) to the idea of interlingual consciousness.

The study examined the reliability of parents' reports of their child's verbal skills. Parents to 17 children participated and completed the toddler version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI). It was found that the correlation between the reports made by the mothers and fathers was very strong. All in all the parents had a very similar understanding of their child's verbal skills. / Denna studie undersökte hur väl föräldrars rapport av deras barns språkförmåga stämmer överens. Föräldrarna till 17 barn deltog och fyllde i toddler-versionen av the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI). Korrelationen mellan mammornas och pappornas rapportering var mycket stark. Överlag så hade föräldrarna en mycket liknande uppfattning av deras barns språkförmåga.

Esta dissertação utiliza simulações computacionais visando investigar a influência de alguns fatores lingüísticos na organização lexical de verbos, analisando os processos de aquisição e uso. Os fatores testados são: freqüência de observação na linguagem, polissemia e complexidade sintática. Os dados utilizados foram obtidos por meio de tarefas psicolingüísticas de nomeação de ações, realizadas por crianças e adultos (falantes do Português brasileiro), posteriormente representados como grafos. Com base nos fatores lingüísticos, foram formuladas hipóteses relativas ao desenvolvimento da língua, testadas por meio de simulações computacionais denominadas ‘involuções’. Os testes incluem métricas da teoria dos grafos e medidas de similaridade de conjuntos (coeficiente de Jaccard e suas componentes). Os resultados obtidos apontam para uma confirmação das hipóteses formuladas. Adicionalmente, permitiram verificar algumas características do desenvolvimento lingüístico, como o aumento do vocabulário e uma progressiva especialização. / This dissertation uses computational simulations designed to investigate the influence of three linguistic factors in the lexical organization of verbs, analyzing the process of acquisition and use. The tested factors are: frequency of observation in the language, polysemy and syntactic complexity. The data used were obtained from psycholinguistic action naming tasks performed by children and adults (speakers of Brazilian Portuguese), and subsequently represented as graphs. Based on linguistic factors, hypotheses were formulated concerning the development of language, tested through simulations called ‘involutions’. Tests include graph theory metrics and set similarity measures (Jaccard’s coefficient and its components). Results suggest a confirmation of the given hypotheses. Additionally, allowed verification of some language development features, such as vocabulary growth and a progressive specialization.

Esta dissertação utiliza simulações computacionais visando investigar a influência de alguns fatores lingüísticos na organização lexical de verbos, analisando os processos de aquisição e uso. Os fatores testados são: freqüência de observação na linguagem, polissemia e complexidade sintática. Os dados utilizados foram obtidos por meio de tarefas psicolingüísticas de nomeação de ações, realizadas por crianças e adultos (falantes do Português brasileiro), posteriormente representados como grafos. Com base nos fatores lingüísticos, foram formuladas hipóteses relativas ao desenvolvimento da língua, testadas por meio de simulações computacionais denominadas ‘involuções’. Os testes incluem métricas da teoria dos grafos e medidas de similaridade de conjuntos (coeficiente de Jaccard e suas componentes). Os resultados obtidos apontam para uma confirmação das hipóteses formuladas. Adicionalmente, permitiram verificar algumas características do desenvolvimento lingüístico, como o aumento do vocabulário e uma progressiva especialização. / This dissertation uses computational simulations designed to investigate the influence of three linguistic factors in the lexical organization of verbs, analyzing the process of acquisition and use. The tested factors are: frequency of observation in the language, polysemy and syntactic complexity. The data used were obtained from psycholinguistic action naming tasks performed by children and adults (speakers of Brazilian Portuguese), and subsequently represented as graphs. Based on linguistic factors, hypotheses were formulated concerning the development of language, tested through simulations called ‘involutions’. Tests include graph theory metrics and set similarity measures (Jaccard’s coefficient and its components). Results suggest a confirmation of the given hypotheses. Additionally, allowed verification of some language development features, such as vocabulary growth and a progressive specialization.

Esta dissertação utiliza simulações computacionais visando investigar a influência de alguns fatores lingüísticos na organização lexical de verbos, analisando os processos de aquisição e uso. Os fatores testados são: freqüência de observação na linguagem, polissemia e complexidade sintática. Os dados utilizados foram obtidos por meio de tarefas psicolingüísticas de nomeação de ações, realizadas por crianças e adultos (falantes do Português brasileiro), posteriormente representados como grafos. Com base nos fatores lingüísticos, foram formuladas hipóteses relativas ao desenvolvimento da língua, testadas por meio de simulações computacionais denominadas ‘involuções’. Os testes incluem métricas da teoria dos grafos e medidas de similaridade de conjuntos (coeficiente de Jaccard e suas componentes). Os resultados obtidos apontam para uma confirmação das hipóteses formuladas. Adicionalmente, permitiram verificar algumas características do desenvolvimento lingüístico, como o aumento do vocabulário e uma progressiva especialização. / This dissertation uses computational simulations designed to investigate the influence of three linguistic factors in the lexical organization of verbs, analyzing the process of acquisition and use. The tested factors are: frequency of observation in the language, polysemy and syntactic complexity. The data used were obtained from psycholinguistic action naming tasks performed by children and adults (speakers of Brazilian Portuguese), and subsequently represented as graphs. Based on linguistic factors, hypotheses were formulated concerning the development of language, tested through simulations called ‘involutions’. Tests include graph theory metrics and set similarity measures (Jaccard’s coefficient and its components). Results suggest a confirmation of the given hypotheses. Additionally, allowed verification of some language development features, such as vocabulary growth and a progressive specialization.

Enabling learners to successfully use their second language (L2) in meaningful ways is a critical goal of instruction. Ultimately, most learners want to meet the L2 demands of the contexts in which they will use the language. To accomplish this, learners must develop linguistic knowledge and apply it in a manner that is contextually appropriate considering the requirements of the task at hand. In other words, learners must develop their L2 across both linguistic and communicative aspects to use it successfully. However, there is a paucity of L2 research in which linguistic and communicative performance have been simultaneously investigated.In this study, I investigated the development of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ L2 written production across the lexical and communicative dimensions of performance. The study involved 290 Japanese participants recruited from 20 intact EFL classes at four tertiary educational institutions in Japan, representing a wide range of L2 English proficiency levels and instructional contexts. The study used a non-intervention, repeated-measures design, allowing for the general development of participants’ L2 English writing to be examined. Participants’ L2 English written responses were collected using four argumentative writing tasks, which were administered at the beginning and end of the first and second semesters in a counterbalanced manner. Although a total of 952 responses were collected, responses shorter than 50 words were removed, leaving a total of 775 responses written by 250 participants. The 775 responses included in the primary analyses constituted a corpus of 89,122 words. Twenty-four single-word, multi-word, and lexical variation measures were calculated for the responses and subjected to an exploratory factor analysis. Seven latent lexical factors were identified in the data: High-Frequency Trigrams, Lexical Clarity, High-Frequency Bigrams, Lexical Variation, Lexical Breadth, Low-Frequency N-Grams, and Directional Association Strength of N-Grams. In addition, raters scored the responses for functional adequacy (i.e., Content, Comprehensibility, Organization, and Task Completion) and Lexical Appropriateness. The scores were analyzed using many-facet Rasch measurement, which converted the ordinal scores into equal-interval measures that had been adjusted for the influences of task and rater severity. The lexical factor scores and communicative Rasch measures were examined using linear mixed modeling, dominance analysis, and latent growth modeling to investigate (a) if and how lexical development had occurred, (b) if and how communicative development had occurred, (c) the relationships between the lexical and communicative components, and (d) the relationship between lexical and communicative growth. For the lexical factors, the results indicated that Directional Association Strength of N-Grams scores increased in a linear manner. Directional Association Strength of N-Grams comprised ΔP scores, which indicate the degree to which the first word(s) are predictive of the following word(s) in two- and three-word combinations. Thus, the results indicated that participants’ use of multi-word expressions improved. On the other hand, Lexical Clarity, which comprised imageability, concreteness, meaningfulness, and hypernymy scores, showed quadratic change, with scores improving and then regressing. Thus, the findings provide evidence of differing developmental trends for lexical aspects of L2 writing. For the communicative measures, the results indicated that Comprehensibility, Organization, and Lexical Appropriateness changed substantially over time. Improvement of Task Completion was dependent on the university context, and little change was observed for Content. Lexical Appropriateness showed the most improvement, with evidence of both linear and quadratic change. Bias interaction analyses also confirmed the presence of linear and quadratic trends for the communicative measures. Thus, the findings provide evidence of differing developmental trends for communicative aspects of L2 writing. For the relationships between the lexical and communicative components, the results indicated that two lexical factors were of key importance: Lexical Variation and Directional Association Strength of N-Grams. Lexical Variation was found to predict Content, Organization, and Task Completion; and Directional Association Strength of N-Grams was found to predict Comprehensibility and Lexical Appropriateness. The findings suggest that L2 performance assessments should not conflate measurement of lexical variation and use of multi-word expressions because they diverge in terms of the communicative outcomes they predict. The results also indicated a positive relationship between lexical and communicative development. A parallel process latent growth model was constructed that related lexical and communicative growth. The paths tested in the model suggest participants who had lower initial communicative scores were able to increase their lexical scores at faster rates, which in turn leveraged communicative growth. The findings highlight the potential for learners to improve their communicative ability through a targeted focus on multi-word expressions. / Applied Linguistics

The present project is a first step towards a new Swedish assessment tool to examine phonological ability in preschool-aged children. The work consisted of developing a word list with words that was considered to reveal a child’s phonological ability and to try out the word list on pre-school children. The reason was to make sure that the words existed in the vocabulary of the children in the chosen ages. A word list consisting of 109 words, which convey relevant phonological information, was created. Every phoneme in the Swedish language is represented at least twice in initial, medial and final word position. The majority of the consonant clusters, which are allowed in the Swedish language, are included. Also words consisting of three or more syllables, words consisting of an initial unstressed syllable and both of the tonal word accents used in the Swedish language, are included in the wordlist. The 85 children who participated in the present study was 3;0-5;11 years old and their task was to name the pictures of the material. The children were divided into six half-yearly intervals. The result showed that the children’s ability to name the pictures was improved with increased age. The children in the youngest interval (3;0-3;5) named a mean of 92 pictures correctly, while children in the oldest interval (5;6-5;11) named a mean of 107 picture. The authors decided that words which were produced by at least 80% of the children in an interval were judged to be appropriate for the current age. Consequently, 79 of the 109 words were judged to be appropriate for children in interval 1. Among these 79 words, there are words which represent the majority of the phonological aspects that a phonological assessment tool should comprise. / Föreliggande uppsatsarbete utgör ett första steg i utformandet av ett nytt svenskt bedömningsmaterial för fonologisk förmåga hos barn i förskoleåldern. Arbetet bestod av att välja ut ord som kan anses ringa in ett barns fonologiska förmåga samt att testa dessa på barn i förskoleåldern, för att säkerställa att orden finns i det aktiva ordförrådet hos barn i aktuella åldrar. En ordlista bestående av 109 ord, som bär på relevant fonologisk information, skapades. Samtliga svenska fonem finns representerade minst två gånger i initial, medial och final ordposition. Dessutom ingår majoriteten av konsonantförbindelser, som är tillåtna enligt svensk fonotax, i de utvalda orden. Även ord med tre eller fler stavelser, ord innehållande pretonisk stavelse samt svenska språkets båda tonaccenter är representerade. Orden illustrerades med bilder från Boardmaker. De 85 barnen som deltog i studien var 3;0-5;11år och fick benämna samtliga bilder i materialet. Barnen delades in i sex halvårsintervall. Resultaten visade att barnens förmåga att benämna bilderna förbättrades med stigande ålder. Medelvärdet för antalet korrekt benämnda bilder för barnen i det yngsta åldersintervallet (3;0-3;5 år) var 92, medan motsvarade siffra för de äldsta barnen (5;6-5;11år) var 107. Författarna beslutade att ord som minst 80% av barnen i ett åldersintervall producerade, kunde anses som användbara i ett test för barn i den aktuella åldern. Därmed ansågs 79 av de 109 orden som användbara från och med åldersintervall 1. Bland de 79 orden finns ord som representerar majoriteten av de fonologiska aspekter som ett fonologiskt bedömningsmaterial bör förmedla.

Submitted by Glauber Assunção Moreira (glauber.a.moreira@gmail.com) on 2018-09-12T19:01:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 O DESENVOLVIMENTO LEXICAL INICIAL DOS 8 AOS 16 MESES DE IDADE A PARTIR DO INVENTÁRIO MACARTHUR DE DESENVOLVIMENTO COMUNICATIVO – PROTOCOLO PALAVRAS E GESTOS.pdf: 1929876 bytes, checksum: 697c5acd6e5a80c23aee19c6d81b29bf (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marly Santos (marly@ufba.br) on 2018-09-13T17:10:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 O DESENVOLVIMENTO LEXICAL INICIAL DOS 8 AOS 16 MESES DE IDADE A PARTIR DO INVENTÁRIO MACARTHUR DE DESENVOLVIMENTO COMUNICATIVO – PROTOCOLO PALAVRAS E GESTOS.pdf: 1929876 bytes, checksum: 697c5acd6e5a80c23aee19c6d81b29bf (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-13T17:10:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 O DESENVOLVIMENTO LEXICAL INICIAL DOS 8 AOS 16 MESES DE IDADE A PARTIR DO INVENTÁRIO MACARTHUR DE DESENVOLVIMENTO COMUNICATIVO – PROTOCOLO PALAVRAS E GESTOS.pdf: 1929876 bytes, checksum: 697c5acd6e5a80c23aee19c6d81b29bf (MD5) / O desenvolvimento lexical inicial de crianças entre 8 e 16 meses de idade adquirindo o português brasileiro é um assunto pouco explorado pela literatura. Adotando como instrumento de coleta o protocolo “Palavras e Gestos” dos Inventários MacArthur de Desenvolvimento Comunicativo – elaborado em língua inglesa e já adaptado e normatizado para diversos idiomas – que se refere à medição da compreensão e da produção lexical e ao uso de gestos comunicativos de crianças desta faixa etária, e adotando também a sua metodologia, baseada no relato parental, o presente trabalho tem como objetivos: fornecer informações a respeito dos padrões de compreensão e de produção lexical, a partir das informações que podem ser obtidas com o protocolo, no intuito de fornecer uma visão do desenvolvimento lexical dos 8 aos 16 meses de idade; adaptar o protocolo para o português brasileiro a fim de torná-lo eficaz e válido também para o português; e investigar a eficácia do Inventário enquanto instrumento de pesquisa elaborado para este fim. Para a composição do corpus, 27 pais, pertencentes à classe sócio-escolar A ou B, de crianças nesta faixa etária, foram entrevistados. Os dados obtidos permitiram chegar às seguintes conclusões: existe uma asssimetria entre a quantidade de itens lexicais comprendidos e a quantidade de itens produzidos; no nível da compreensão, o grupo dos “Nomes Comuns” predomina em todas as faixas etárias, seguido do grupo dos “Predicados”; na produção, as categorias “Sons de Coisas e de Aninais”, “Pessoas”, “Objetos e Lugares fora da casa” e “Jogos e Rotinas” dominam até o primeiro ano de vida, sendo que, a partir daí, outras categorias semânticas como “Comidas e Bebidas”, “Palavras de Ação”, “Partes do Corpo”, “Animais” e “Utensílios da Casa” começam a aparecer em maior número. Algumas informações importantes e necessárias para uma análise desta fase inicial como contextos e freqüência de uso e forma fonética não são fornecidas devido a limitações do próprio intrumento. Em linhas gerais, as informações oriundas desta coleta corroboram estudos já realizados, em outras línguas, a respeito dessa fase inicial de aquisição, embora os dados obtidos com o protocolo sejam considerados elevados em comparação com os dados de outros estudos longitudinais e de diário. / The early lexical development of children between 8 to 16 months acquiring the brazilian portuguese is a poorly explored topic in the avaiable literature. Adopting as a data-gathering model the “Words and Gestures” protocol of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories – developed for the English language but alredy widely adapted and normalized for use with various languages – wich aims to measure the comprehension, lexical production and the use of communicative gestures by children in this age range, and adopting as well the metodology, based in parental report, this dissertation hopes to achieve the following objectives: to provide further data regarding the patterns of comprehension and production in the lexical development, within the limits of the protocol, with the goal of developing a vision of the lexical development of children fron 8 to 16 months; to adapt the protocol validly and effectively for use with brazilian portuguese; and to investigate the effectiveness of the Inventory as an instrument to achieve these goals. The body of data was composed by interviews with 27 parents of children in this age range, either from socio-educational class A or B. the data obtained suggest the following conclusions: that the comprehension of lexical items occurs asymmetrically with regards to production; that at the level of comprehension, the group “Common Nouns” predominates at all ages, followed by the group of “Predicatives”; that in production the categories “Sounds of Things and Animals”, “People”, “Object and Places outside ”, and “Games and Routines” predominate up to one year of age, but after that other semantic categories such as “Foods and Drinks”, “Action Words”, “Parts of the Body”, “Animals”, and “Household Items” begin to appear with greater frequency. Some important and necessary information for an in depth analysis at this initial state, such as the contexts and frequencies of use and the phonetic forms utilized are not supplied due to the limitations of the model for data collection employed. Generally, the data from this study corroborate previous research performed in other languages regarding this initial satge of language acquisition, although the data obtained with the protocol may be considered high in comparison with data provided by other studies.