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Diversifying language acquisition research can be (partly) achieved in urban societies and with simplified methodologies: Insights from multilingual Ghana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2023

Paul Okyere OMANE Open the ORCID record for Paul Okyere OMANE [Opens in a new window] ,
Titia BENDERS Open the ORCID record for Titia BENDERS [Opens in a new window] ,
Reginald Akuoko DUAH  and
Natalie BOLL-AVETISYAN
Paul Okyere OMANE*
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science Unit, University of Potsdam, Germany School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney-Australia International Doctorate for Experimental Approaches to Language and Brain (IDEALAB), Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany; University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Titia BENDERS
Affiliation:
Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Reginald Akuoko DUAH
Affiliation:
University of Ghana, Legon/Humboldt Universitaet, Berlin
Natalie BOLL-AVETISYAN
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science Unit, University of Potsdam, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. Paul Okyere Omane, Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science Unit, University of Potsdam, Germany. Email: omaneokyere@hotmail.com
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Extract

There is a large consensus (e.g., Cristia, Foushee, Aravena-Bravo, Cychosz, Scaff & Casillas, 2023; Kidd & Garcia, 2022) that diversification in language acquisition research is needed. Cristia et al. (2023) convincingly argue for studying language acquisition in rural populations and recommend combining observational and experimental approaches in doing so. In this commentary, we identify that diversification efforts must also include children growing up in non-western urban societies and that combining experiments with more easy-to-obtain data on language exposure can be a solid method to start with.

Keywords

Language diversityMultilingual language acquisitionField-based research
Type
Invited Commentary
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 50 , Issue 3: Special issue on Cross-cultural language development , May 2023 , pp. 532 - 536
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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