Poster #111 - Early expressive vocabulary predicts phonological skills in Finnish children at 3;6.

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Language, Communication

Integrative Statement

Background and aims. Lexical and phonological development interact in early language development. Bidirectional simultaneous directions has been suggested after one-word period. However, longitudinal associations between lexicon and phonology in typically developing children are less studied. Evidence from late talkers suggests that the connections between language domains continue at least up to school age. In this study relationships between expressive lexical skills (lexicon size at 2;0 and naming at 3;6) and phonological skills at 3;6 are explored.

Subjects and methods. The participants were 67 full-term healthy monolingual Finnish speaking children. Phonological development was measured using Finnish Phonology Test (FPT) at the age of 3;6. Phonological assessment included both paradigmatic and phonotactic areas. Early expressive lexicon size at 2;0 was measured using Communicative Development Inventory (CDI, long form). Naming ability at 3;6 was measured using the Boston Naming Test (BNT).

Results. Both measured areas of phonological development were significantly and moderately correlated with previous expressive lexicon size at 2;0 (table 1).

Table 1. Correlations between phonological skills at 3;6 (FPT) and expressive lexicon: lexicon size at 2;0 (CDI) and naming at 3;6 (BNT).

(Table 1)

According to the linear regression analysis, a significant equation was found (F(2,64)=8.951, P<0.001), with an adjusted R squared of 0.19. The CDI score at 2;0 was a significant predictor for the FPT score at 3;6 (ANOVA, p<0.001), while the BNT score at 3;6 did not predict the phonological development at the same age (ANOVA, p>0.1). Children with small lexicon size (percentile <17; CDI, N=11) differed significantly from those with typical or large lexicons at 2;0, in FPT results at 3;6 (W = 127.5, p-value = 0.0009, Wilcoxson rank sum test).

Discussion. The results of this study show that expressive lexicon size at 2;0 and naming skills at 3;6 correlate with phonological skills at 3;6 in Finnish speaking children. Early lexicon size also predicts later phonological skills. Furthermore children with small expressive lexicon size at 2;0, differ in their later phonological skills if compared to those with typical or large expressive lexicon at the end of 2nd year. Child's phonological skills affects the lexicon (Stoel-Gammon, 2011), but as the findings of the present study show, expressive lexicon also influences the phonology.

Authors

• Eija Aalto, University of Oulu
  Presenting Author

• Suvi Stolt, University of Helsinki
  Non-Presenting Author