Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-tbj44 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-03T02:20:49.602Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Object and action naming in Russian- and German-speaking monolingual and bilingual children*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2013

ANNEGRET KLASSERT ,
NATALIA GAGARINA  and
CHRISTINA KAUSCHKE
ANNEGRET KLASSERT*
Affiliation:
University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
NATALIA GAGARINA
Affiliation:
Centre for General Linguistics, Berlin, Germany
CHRISTINA KAUSCHKE
Affiliation:
Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany
*
Address for correspondence: Annegret Klassert, Universität Potsdam, Department Linguistik Haus 14, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24–25, 14476 Potsdam, Germanyklassert@patholinguistik.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The present study investigates the influence of word category on naming performance in two populations: bilingual and monolingual children. The question is whether and, if so, to what extent monolingual and bilingual children differ with respect to noun and verb naming and whether a noun bias exists in the lexical abilities of bilingual children. Picture naming of objects and actions by Russian–German bilingual children (aged 4–7 years) was compared to age-matched monolingual children. The results clearly demonstrate a naming deficit of bilingual children in comparison to monolingual children that increases with age. Noun learning is more fragile in bilingual contexts than is verb learning. In bilingual language acquisition, nouns do not predominate over verbs as much as is seen in monolingual German and Russian children. The results are discussed with respect to semantic-conceptual aspects and language-specific features of nouns and verbs, and the impact of input on the acquisition of these word categories.

Keywords

lexical abilitiesword categoriesbilingual children

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 73 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

*

We would like to express our gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. The research reported on in this work has been supported (in part) by funding from the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), grants numbers 01UG0711 and 01UW0702B.

References

Allman, B. (2005). Vocabulary size and accuracy of monolingual and bilingual preschool children. In Cohen et al. (eds.), pp. 58–77.Google Scholar
Baayen, R. H., Piepenbrock, R., & Gulikers, L. (1995). The CELEX Lexical Database (CD-ROM). Philadelphia, PA: Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Bates, E., Dale, P. S., & Thal, D. (1995). Individual differences and their implications for theories of language development. In Fletcher, P. & MacWhinney, B. (eds.), The handbook of child language, pp. 96–151. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Black, M., & Chiat, S. (2003). Noun–verb dissociations: A multifaceted phenomenon. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 16, 231–250.Google Scholar
Brysbaert, M., Buchmeier, M., Conrad, M., Jacobs, A. M., Bölte, J., & Böhl, A. (2011). The word frequency effect: A review of recent developments and implications for the choice of frequency estimates in German. Experimental Psychology, 58, 412–424.Google Scholar
Ceytlin, S. N. (2009). Ocherki po slovoobrazovaniju I formoobrazovaniju v detskoj rechi [Essays on derivation and inflection in language acquisition]. Moskva: Znak.Google Scholar
Cobo-Lewis, A., Pearson, B. Z., Eilers, R. E., & Umbel, V. C. (2002a). Effects of bilingualism and bilingual education on oral and written English skills: A multifactor study of standardized test outcomes. In Oller & Eilers (eds.), pp. 43–63.Google Scholar
Cobo-Lewis, A., Pearson, B. Z., Eilers, R. E., & Umbel, V. C. (2002b). Effects of bilingualism and bilingual education on oral and written Spanish skills: A multifactor study of standardized test outcomes. In Oller & Eilers (eds.), pp. 98–117.Google Scholar
David, A., & Li Wei (2005). The composition of the bilingual lexicon. In Cohen, J., K. McAlister, T, Rolstad, K. & MacSwan, J. (eds.), ISB4: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism, pp. 594–607. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Davidoff, J., & Masterson, J. (1996). The development of picture naming: Differences between verbs and nouns. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 9, 69–83.Google Scholar
De Bleser, R., & Kauschke, C. (2003). Acquisition and loss of nouns and verbs: Parallel or divergent patterns? Journal of Neurolinguistics, 16, 213–229.Google Scholar
Eliseeva, M. B. (2008). Foneticheskoje i leksicheskoje razvitije rebjonka rannego vozrasta [Phonological and lexical development in early childhood]. St. Petersburg: RGPU im. A. I. Hercena.Google Scholar
Fenson, L., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S., Thal, D., Bates, E., Hartung, J., Pethick, S., & Reilly, J. S. (1993). MacArthur communicative development inventories: User's guide and manual. San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing Group.Google Scholar
Franks, S. (1995). Parameters of slavic morphosyntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gagarina, N. (2008). Stanovlenie grammaticheskich kategorij russkogo glagola v detskoj rechi [First language acquisition of verb categories in Russian]. St. Petersburg: Nauka.Google Scholar
Genesee, F., & Nicoladis, E. (1995). Language development in bilingual preschool children. In Garcia, E. & McLaughlin, B. (eds.), Meeting the challenge of linguistic and cultural diversity in early childhood education, pp. 18–33. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Gentner, D. (1982). Why nouns are learned before verbs: Linguistic relativity versus natural partitioning. In Kuczaj, S. A. (ed.), Language development, pp. 301–334. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Gentner, D. (2006). Why verbs are hard to learn. In Hirsh-Pasek, K. & Golinkoff, R. (eds.), Action meets word: How children learn verbs, pp. 544–564. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gentner, D., & Boroditsky, L. (2001). Individuation, relativity and early word learning. In Bowerman, M. & Levinson, S. (eds.), Language acquisition and conceptual development, pp. 215–256. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Golberg, H., Paradis, J., & Crago, M. (2008). Lexical acquisition over time in minority L1 children learning English as a L2. Applied Psycholinguistics, 29, 41–65.Google Scholar
Goodman, J. C., Dale, P. S., & Li, P. (2008). Does frequency count? Parental input and the acquisition of vocabulary. Journal of Child Language, 35, 515–531.Google Scholar
Gopnik, A., & Choi, S. (1995). Names, relational words and cognitive development in English and Korean speakers: Nouns are not always learned before verbs. In Tomasello, M. & Merriman, W. (eds.), Beyond names for things: Young children's acquisition of verbs, pp. 63–80. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Hoff, E., Core, C., Place, S., Rumiche, R., Señor, M., & Parra, M. (2012). Dual language exposure and early bilingual development. Journal of Child Language, 39, 1–27.Google Scholar
Jeuk, S. (2003). Erste Schritte in der Zweitsprache Deutsch: Eine empirische Untersuchung zum Zweitspracherwerb türkischer Migrantenkinder in Kindertageseinrichtungen. Freiburg: Fillibach.Google Scholar
Kambanaros, M., Grohmann, K. K., & Michaelides, M. (in press). Lexical retrieval for nouns and verbs in typically developing bilectal children. First Language.Google Scholar
Kan, P. F., & Kohnert, K. (2005). Preschoolers learning Hmong and English: Lexical-semantic skills in L1 and L2. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48, 372–383.Google Scholar
Karasu, I. (1995). Bilinguale Wortschatzentwicklung bei türkischen Migrantenkindern vom Vor- bis ins Grundschulalter in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Frankfurt a. M.: Lang.Google Scholar
Kauschke, C. (2007). Erwerb und Verarbeitung von Nomen und Verben. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Kauschke, C., & Hofmeister, C. (2002). Early lexical development in German: A study on vocabulary growth and vocabulary composition during the second and third year of life. Journal of Child Language, 29, 735–757.Google Scholar
Kauschke, C., Lee, H.-W., & Pae, S. (2007). Similarities and variation in noun and verb acquisition: A crosslinguistic study of children learning German, Korean, and Turkish. Language and Cognitive Processes, 22, 1–28.Google Scholar
Kauschke, C., & Stenneken, P. (2008). Differences in noun and verb processing in lexical decision cannot be attributed to word form and morphological complexity. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 37, 443–452.Google Scholar
Kauschke, C., & von Frankenberg, J. (2008). The differential influence of lexical variables on naming latencies in German – A study on noun and verb picture naming. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 37, 243–257.Google Scholar
Kern, S. (1998). Adaptation française du MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory “Words and Gestures”. Ms.Google Scholar
Masterson, J., Druks, J., & Gallienne, D. (2008). Object and action picture naming in three- and five-year-old children. Journal of Child Language, 35, 373–402.Google Scholar
Mätzig, S., Druks, J., Masterson, J., & Vigliocco, G. (2009). Noun and verb differences in picture naming: Past studies and new evidence. Cortex, 45, 738–758.Google Scholar
McGregor, K. K., Friedman, R., Reilly, R., & Newman, R. M. (2002). Semantic representation and naming in young children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 45, 332–346.Google Scholar
Morrison, C. M., & Ellis, A. W. (1995). The roles of word frequency and age of acquisition in word naming and lexical decision. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 21, 116–133.Google Scholar
Oller, D. K. (2005). The distributed characteristic in bilingual learning. In Cohen et al. (eds.), pp. 1744–1749.Google Scholar
Oller, D. K., Cobo-Lewis, A. B., & Pearson, B. Z. (2004). Profiles in early bilingual learning: Vocabulary acquisition and the distributed characteristic. Lafayette, LA: International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistic Association.Google Scholar
Oller, D. K., & Eilers, R. E. (eds.) (2002). Language and literacy in bilingual children. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Patterson, J. L. (1998). Expressive vocabulary development and word combinations of Spanish–English bilingual toddlers. American Journal of Speech and Language Pathology, 7, 46–56.Google Scholar
Pearson, B. Z., Fernández, S., Lewedeg, V., & Oller, D. K. (1997). The relation of input factors to lexical learning by bilingual infants. Applied Psycholinguistics, 18, 41–58.Google Scholar
Pearson, B. Z., Fernández, S., & Oller, D. K. (1993). Lexical development in bilingual infants and toddlers: Comparison to monolingual norms. Language Learning, 43, 93–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polinsky, M. (2004). World class distinctions in an incomplete grammar. In Ravid, D. (ed.), Perspectives on language and language development, pp. 423–438. Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Reich, H. H. (2007). Forschungsstand und Desideratenaufweis zu Migrationslinguistik und Migrationspädagogik für die Zwecke des “Anforderungsrahmens”. In Ehlich, K. (ed.), Anforderungen an Verfahren der regelmäßigen Sprachstandsfeststellung als Grundlage für die frühe und individuelle Förderung von Kindern mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund, pp. 121–170. Berlin: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF).Google Scholar
Sandhofer, C., Smith, L. B., & Luo, J. (2000). Counting nouns and verbs in the input: Differential frequencies, different kinds of learning? Journal of Child Language, 27, 561–585.Google Scholar
Sharoff, S. The frequency dictionary for Russian. http://bokrcorpora.narod.ru/frqlist/frqlist-en.html (retrieved October 15, 2011).Google Scholar
Sheng, L., & McGregor, K. K. (2010). Object and action naming in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53, 1704–1719.Google Scholar
Sheng, L., McGregor, K. K., & Marian, V. (2006). Lexical-semantic organization in bilingual children: Evidence from a repeated word association task. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 49, 572–587.Google Scholar
Snedeker, J., Geren, J., & Shafto, C. L. (2007). Starting over: International adoption as a natural experiment in language development. Psychological Science, 18, 79–87.Google Scholar
Snedeker, J., Geren, J., & Shafto, C. L. (in press). Different paths: Developmental changes in second language acquisition between three and five years of age. http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~lds/pdfs/Snedeker%20Geren%20Shafto%20Different%20Paths.pdf (retrieved April 4, 2011).Google Scholar
Umbel, V. M., Pearson, B. Z., Fernández, M. C., & Oller, D. K. (1992). Measuring bilingual children's receptive vocabularies. Child Development, 63, 1012–1020.Google Scholar
Yan, S., & Nicoladis, E. (2009). Finding le mot juste: Differences between bilingual and monolingual children's lexical access in comprehension and production. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12, 323–335.Google Scholar
Zolotova, G. A., Onipenko, N. K., & Sidorova, M. J. (2004). Kommunikativnaja grammatika russkogo jazyka [Communicative grammar of Russian]. Moskva: Institut russkogo jazyka im. V.V. Vinogradova RAN.Google Scholar