Characteristics of early vocabulary and grammar development in Slovenian-speaking infants and toddlers: A CDI-adaptation study

Abstract

A large body of research shows that vocabulary does not develop independently of grammar, representing a better predictor of the grammatical complexity of toddlers' utterances than age. This study examines for the first time the characteristics of vocabulary and grammar development in Slovenian-speaking infants and toddlers using the Slovenian adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). The sample included 512 Slovenian-speaking infants and toddlers aged 0 ; 8 to 2 ; 6. The findings suggest that between age 0 ; 8 and 2 ; 6 the development of vocabulary is best described using a quadratic function. The results also show that nouns predominate in the vocabularies of infants and toddlers of various ages; as they age and with the increasing size of their vocabularies, the share of interjections decreases and the share of verbs and adjectives increases. The size of vocabulary was also found to be related to the grammatical structure of toddlers' utterances. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012.