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Associations between lexicon and grammar at the end of the second year in Finnish children*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2008

SUVI STOLT ,
LEENA HAATAJA ,
HELENA LAPINLEIMU  and
LIISA LEHTONEN
SUVI STOLT*
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki and Turku University Central Hospital, Finland
LEENA HAATAJA
Affiliation:
Turku University Central Hospital, Finland
HELENA LAPINLEIMU
Affiliation:
Turku University Central Hospital, Finland
LIISA LEHTONEN
Affiliation:
Turku University Central Hospital, Finland
*
Address for correspondence: Suvi Stolt, University of Turku, Faculty of Social Sciences/Logopedics, Itäinen Pitkäkatu 3a, 20014 Turku, Finland. Email: suvi.stolt@utu.fi
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Abstract

The emergence of grammar in relation to lexical growth was analyzed in a sample of Finnish children (N=181) at 2 ; 0. The Finnish version of the Communicative Development Inventory was used to gather information on both language domains. The onset of grammar occurred in close association with vocabulary growth. The acquisition of the nominal and verbal inflections of Finnish differed when analyzed in relation to the lexicon in which they are used: the strongest growth in the acquisition of case form types occurred when the nominal lexicon size was roughly between 50 and 250 words, whereas verb inflectional types were acquired actively from the beginning of the verb lexicon acquisition. The findings extend the previous findings of the close association between lexicon and grammar (e.g. Bates & Goodman, 1999). The results suggest that different grammatical structures display different degrees and types of lexical dependency.

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Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 36 , Issue 4 , September 2009 , pp. 779 - 806
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

[*]

This study was supported by grants from the Emil Aaltonen Foundation, the Friends of Paediatric Clinics in University Hospitals in Finland Fund, the Neonatal Research in Southwestern Finland Fund, The Finnish Cultural Foundation, Langnet, the Finnish postgraduate school in language studies, and by the Academy of Finland. We thank Petriina Munck for recruiting the sample of 146 children, and Riikka Korja, Annika Lind, Petriina Munck and Anu Uschakoff, psychologists, for assessing the cognitive skills of the children at 2 ; 0. We thank Jaakko Matomäki for help in data analyses. We are grateful for all the families for participating in this study. This study is part of the PIPARI study. The PIPARI study group comprises Mikael Ekblad, Satu Ekblad, Eeva Ekholm, Leena Haataja, Pentti Kero, Jarkko Kirjavainen, Riikka Korja, Harry Kujari, Helena Lapinleimu, Liisa Lehtonen, Annika Lind, Hanna Manninen, Jaakko Matomäki, Jonna Maunu, Petriina Munck, Pekka Niemi, Pertti Palo, Riitta Parkkola, Anniina Peltola, Jorma Piha, Liisi Rautava, Päivi Rautava, Milla Reiman, Hellevi Rikalainen, Katriina Saarinen, Elina Savonlahti, Matti Sillanpää, Suvi Stolt, Päivi Tuomikoski-Koiranen and Tuula Äärimaa.

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