Academic Journal
Vocabulary growth among children in a linguistically diverse community: A large-scale study.
| Τίτλος: | Vocabulary growth among children in a linguistically diverse community: A large-scale study. |
|---|---|
| Συγγραφείς: | Fung P; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada.; Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada., Buckler H; School of English, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom., Johnson EK; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada.; Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada. |
| Πηγή: | Child development [Child Dev] 2026 Aug 29; Vol. 97 (5), pp. 1810-1816. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0372725 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1467-8624 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00093920 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Child Dev Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: Malden, MA : Blackwell Publishers Original Publication: [Chicago, etc.] : Published by the University of Chicago Press for the Society for Research in Child Development [etc.] |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Multilingualism* , Vocabulary* , Language Development*, Humans ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Infant ; Male |
| Περίληψη: | Children's vocabulary growth is linked to the quantity and quality of their language input. Thus, multilingual toddlers often have smaller vocabularies in each of their languages than monolinguals have in their one language. Could exposure to multiple accents also affect vocabulary growth? To date, no well-powered study has addressed this. Here, we compared the reported English vocabularies of three groups of 11- to 34-month-old English learners (N = 3,150; 52% female; racially diverse): bilinguals, monolinguals hearing multiple accents, and monolinguals hearing little accent variation. As expected, bilinguals had smaller English vocabularies. In contrast, monolinguals exposed to the local L1 as well as substantial non-local L1 and/or L2 accents had vocabularies similar in size to those of monolinguals receiving the local L1 accent primarily. Thus, children are well-equipped to handle accent variation in their input. (© The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research in Child Development.) |
| Competing Interests: | Conflicts of interest: The authors declare they have no conflict of interest. |
| Grant Information: | Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: multiaccent input; multilingualism; vocabulary development Local Abstract: [plain-language-summary] The study examines whether exposure to multiple accents affects vocabulary development using a large sample of 3,150 children aged 11–34 months. We compared the reported English vocabulary size of three groups: (a) monoaccent monolinguals (exposed only to the local English variety), (b) multiaccent monolinguals (exposed to multiple English varieties), and (c) bilinguals (exposed to English and another language). As expected, bilingual children had smaller English vocabularies than monolinguals. Crucially, there were no vocabulary differences between monoaccent and multiaccent monolingual children at any age, indicating that accent variability does not cause language delays. Additionally, children exposed to non-native English accents showed comparable vocabulary growth to those exposed to native accents, suggesting that non-native input does not hinder vocabulary development. |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260411 Date Completed: 20260829 Latest Revision: 20260829 |
| Update Code: | 20260829 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/chidev/aacag063 |
| PMID: | 41964615 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
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