Moving Beyond Size: Word Meanings Underlying Children's Productive Vocabulary

语言习得主要发生在生命的最初几年。衡量儿童语言发展的一种常用方法是他们的有效词汇量，这对以后的学业成就、社会情感功能、经济繁荣等有很高的预测作用。然而，词汇量大小为何能预测生活结果的原因尚不清楚。这项研究旨在通过研究儿童词汇的使用是否能预测词汇量的增长，从而促进对儿童长期健康、繁荣和福利的科学和理解。研究人员预测，词汇量大小只是对儿童词义的粗略衡量，而词义决定了儿童的学习方式；也就是说，使用一个单词的意思可以帮助孩子获得同一个单词的新意思，这反过来又可以帮助孩子学习更多的单词和单词的意思。调查人员通过收集大量父母样本的数据，建立了一个数据库，这些父母报告了孩子在9个月内对单词含义的使用情况。该数据库可能会对词汇使用和增长的发展轨迹产生新的见解，从而为该领域提供无数的二次数据分析和研究机会。从事这个项目的不同学生研究小组接受了关于如何研究儿童语言发展的跨学科培训。为什么儿童早期的词汇量可以预测其晚年生活的结果，目前还不清楚。研究者的主要假设是，词语知识作为对词语和词义进行推理的基础（即，词语知识作为范畴归纳先验）。也就是说，使用一个单词的意思可以帮助孩子获得同一个单词的新意思，这反过来又可以帮助孩子学习更多的单词和单词的意思。为了直接验证他们的假设，研究人员开发了一种新的词汇发展测量方法，该方法超越了生产词汇量，并测量了包括意义、活动、社会伙伴、空间位置和儿童单词生产的时间/频率在内的因素。在与该领域其他研究人员的合作中，研究人员选择了一些变量来测量儿童的一般语言、认知、运动、社会情感和适应行为，以提供儿童在词汇使用方面的发展的整体评估。在完善和验证了测量方法后，PI和团队通过收集大量父母样本的数据创建了一个数据库，这些父母报告了孩子在9个月内对单词含义的使用情况。对数据进行分析，以确定在时间1中测量的词义的数量和/或多样性(a)是否预测了在时间2中单词和词义的学习，以及(b)预测语言以外的发展结果（在学习期间和时间2中测量），其程度是否大于词汇量。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Language acquisition largely occurs during the first few years of life. A common measurement of children’s language development is their productive vocabulary size, which is highly predictive of later academic achievement, social-emotional functioning, economic prosperity, and more. However, why vocabulary size predicts life outcomes remains unclear. The proposed research advances science and understanding of children’s long-term health, prosperity and welfare by examining whether use of children’s word meanings predicts vocabulary growth. The investigators predict that vocabulary size is simply a coarse measurement of children’s word meanings, and that word meanings shape how children learn; that is, using one word meaning can help children to acquire new meanings for the same word, which in turn helps children learn more words and word meanings. The investigators create a database by collecting data from a large sample of parents, which report children’s use of word meanings over a 9-month period. This database is likely to lead to new insights into developmental trajectories of vocabulary use and growth, and thus afford myriad secondary data analyses and research opportunities for the field. The diverse group of student researchers working on this project receives interdisciplinary training on how to study children’s language development.Why children’s early vocabulary size predicts late life outcomes remains unclear. The investigators’ primary hypothesis is that word knowledge serves as the basis for inferences about words and word meanings (i.e., word knowledge serves as categorical inductive priors). That is, using one word meaning can help children to acquire new meanings for the same word, which in turn helps children learn more words and word meanings. To directly test their hypothesis, the investigators develop a new measure of vocabulary development that goes beyond productive vocabulary size, and measures factors including the meaning(s), activities, social partner(s), spatial location(s), and timing/frequency of children’s word production. In collaboration with other researchers in the field, the investigators have selected variables to measure children’s general language, cognitive, motor, social-emotional, and adaptive behavior, to provide a holistic assessment of children’s development in relation to their word meaning use. After refining and validating the measure, the PI and team create a database by collecting data from a large sample of parents, which report children’s use of word meanings over a 9-month period. The data are analyzed to determine whether the quantity and/or diversity of word meanings measured at Time 1 (a) predict later learning of words and word meanings at Time 2 and (b) predict developmental outcomes beyond language (measured during study and at Time 2) to a greater degree than vocabulary size.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.