Patterns of Adaptation in Child-Directed and Child Speech in the Emergence of Hebrew Verbs.

Elitzur Dattner, Ronit Levie, Dorit Ravid, Orit Ashkenazi
Author Information
  1. Elitzur Dattner: Department of Communication Disorders, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
  2. Ronit Levie: Department of Communication Disorders, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
  3. Dorit Ravid: Department of Communication Disorders, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
  4. Orit Ashkenazi: Department of Communication Disorders, Haddassa College, Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract

Children approach verb learning in ways that are specific to their native language, given the differential typological organization of verb morphology and lexical semantics. Parent-child interaction is the arena where children's socio-cognitive abilities enable them to track predictive relationships between tokens and extract linguistic generalizations from patterns and regularities in the ambient language. The current study examines how the system of Hebrew verbs develops as a network over time in early childhood, and the dynamic role of input-output adaptation in the network's increasing complexity. Focus is on the morphological components of Hebrew verbs in a dense corpus of two parent-child dyads in natural interaction between the ages 1;8-2;2. The 91-hour corpus contained 371,547 word tokens, 62,824 verb tokens, and 1,410 verb types (lemmas) in CDS and CS together. Network analysis was employed to explore the changing distributions and emergent systematicity of the relations between verb roots and verb patterns. Taking the Semitic root and pattern morphological constructs to represent linked nodes in a network, findings show that children's networks change with age in terms of node degree and node centrality, representing linkage level and construct importance respectively; and in terms of network density, as representing network growth potential. We put forward three main hypotheses followed by findings concerning (i) changes in verb usage through development, (ii) CS adaptation, and (iii) CDS adaptation: First, we show that children go through punctuated development, expressed by their using individual constructs for short periods of time, whereas parents' patterns of usage are more coherent. Second, regarding CS adaptation within a dynamic network system relative to time and CDS, we conclude that children are attuned to their immediate experience consisting of current CDS usage as well as previous usage in the immediate past. Finally, we show that parents (unintentionally) adapt to their children's language knowledge in three ways: First, by relating to their children's current usage. Second, by expanding on previous experience, building upon the usage their children have already been exposed to. And third, we show that when parents experience a limited network in the speech of their children, they provide them with more opportunities to expand their system in future interactions.

Keywords

References

  1. Front Psychol. 2016 Apr 20;7:532 [PMID: 27148140]
  2. J Child Lang. 2003 May;30(2):333-70 [PMID: 12846301]
  3. PLoS One. 2011 May 11;6(5):e19348 [PMID: 21589924]
  4. PLoS One. 2018 Feb 28;13(2):e0192545 [PMID: 29489837]
  5. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2004 Dec;47(6):1319-33 [PMID: 15842013]
  6. J Child Lang. 2006 Aug;33(3):621-59 [PMID: 17017281]
  7. J Child Lang. 2020 Jan;47(1):5-21 [PMID: 31668157]
  8. J Child Lang. 2000 Feb;27(1):43-67 [PMID: 10740967]
  9. Cognition. 2000 Mar 14;74(3):209-53 [PMID: 10640571]
  10. J Child Lang. 1982 Feb;9(1):169-91 [PMID: 7061628]
  11. J Child Lang. 2012 Sep;39(4):885-97 [PMID: 21939582]
  12. Lang Resour Eval. 2013 Dec 1;47(4):973-1005 [PMID: 25419199]
  13. PLoS One. 2010 Apr 27;5(4):e10232 [PMID: 20436911]
  14. J Child Lang. 2020 May;47(3):509-532 [PMID: 31554527]
  15. Psychol Sci. 2015 Sep;26(9):1489-96 [PMID: 26243292]
  16. J Psycholinguist Res. 2007 May;36(3):237-53 [PMID: 17205394]
  17. J Child Lang. 1993 Oct;20(3):641-69 [PMID: 8300780]
  18. Science. 2009 Jul 24;325(5939):412-3 [PMID: 19628854]
  19. J Child Lang. 1998 Feb;25(1):95-120 [PMID: 9604570]
  20. PLoS One. 2019 Jul 26;14(7):e0220061 [PMID: 31348798]
  21. J Child Lang. 1985 Jun;12(2):367-85 [PMID: 4019608]

Word Cloud

Created with Highcharts 10.0.0networkverbusagechildren'spatternsHebrewadaptationCDSshowchildrenlanguagetokenscurrentsystemtimedynamicCSanalysisexperienceinteractionverbsmorphologicalcorpus1rootsconstructsfindingstermsnoderepresentingthreedevelopmentFirstSecondimmediatepreviousparentsChildrenapproachlearningwaysspecificnativegivendifferentialtypologicalorganizationmorphologylexicalsemanticsParent-childarenasocio-cognitiveabilitiesenabletrackpredictiverelationshipsextractlinguisticgeneralizationsregularitiesambientstudyexaminesdevelopsearlychildhoodroleinput-outputnetwork'sincreasingcomplexityFocuscomponentsdensetwoparent-childdyadsnaturalages8-2291-hourcontained371547word62824410typeslemmastogetherNetworkemployedexplorechangingdistributionsemergentsystematicityrelationsTakingSemiticrootpatternrepresentlinkednodesnetworkschangeagedegreecentralitylinkagelevelconstructimportancerespectivelydensitygrowthpotentialputforwardmainhypothesesfollowedconcerningchangesiiiiiadaptation:gopunctuatedexpressedusingindividualshortperiodswhereasparents'coherentregardingwithinrelativeconcludeattunedconsistingwellpastFinallyunintentionallyadaptknowledgeways:relatingexpandingbuildinguponalreadyexposedthirdlimitedspeechprovideopportunitiesexpandfutureinteractionsPatternsAdaptationChild-DirectedChildSpeechEmergenceVerbsCS-CDS

Similar Articles

Cited By