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Early lexical development: comprehension and production*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Helen Benedict
Helen Benedict
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
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Abstract

Lists of the first 50 words comprehended and produced by eight infants between 0; 9 and 1; 8 were compared. Comprehension development began earlier (around 0; 9) and reached the 50-word level (age 1; 1) earlier than production development (ages 1; 0 and 1; 6 respectively) and rate of word acquisition for comprehension was twice that of production, confirming the hypothesis that comprehension precedes production for lexical development. Word-class analysis revealed differences in the proportion and type of action words in comprehension and production vocabularies. It is suggested that action is central to lexical development but is expressed differently in comprehension, where action words are used to initiate actions, and production, where non-action words accompany the child's actions.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 1979 , pp. 183 - 200
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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