The Development of Early Phonological Networks

An Analysis of Individual Longitudinal Vocabulary Growth

Bibliographic Data

ID7150349
AuthorsJudith Kalinowski (Psychology of Language Research Group University of Göttingen, corresponding author), Laura Hansel (0000-0002-8868-2397, Institute of Computer Science and Campus Institute Data Science University of Göttingen), Michaela Vystrčilová (Institute of Computer Science and Campus Institute Data Science University of Göttingen), Alexander Ecker (Institute of Computer Science and Campus Institute Data Science University of Göttingen), Alexander S Ecker (0000-0003-2392-5105, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization), Nikolaus Mani (0000-0002-9843-4629, Psychology of Language Research Group University of Göttingen), Nivedita Mani
Year2025
Volume49
Issue9
Pagese70109-e70109
Publication date2025-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCognitive Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0364-0213 • E-ISSN: 1551-6709
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/cogs.70109
PMID40890989
OpenAlexW4413901548
LanguageEN
References cited62

While much work has emphasized the role of the environment in language learning, research equally reports consistent effects of the child's knowledge, in particular, the words known to individual children, in steering further lexical development. Much of this work is based on cross‐sectional data, assuming that the words typically known to children at n months predict the words typically known to children at n +x months. Given acknowledged variability in the number of words known to individual children at different ages, a more conclusive analysis of this issue requires examination of individual differences in the words learned by individual children across development, that is, using longitudinal data. In the current study, using longitudinal vocabulary data from children learning Norwegian, we ask whether the phonological connectivity of a word to words that the child already knows or words in the child's environment predicts the likelihood of the child learning that word across development. The results suggest that the early vocabulary grows predominantly in a rich‐get‐richer manner, where word learning is predicted by the connectivity of a word to already known words. However, word learning is, to a lesser extent, also influenced by the connectivity of a word to words in the child's linguistic environment. Our results highlight the promise of using longitudinal data to better understand the factors that influence vocabulary development

Child development · Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Language acquisition · Language development · Lexicon · Linguistics · Longitudinal data · Longitudinal study · Norwegian · Phonological development · Phonology · Vocabulary · Vocabulary development · Word learning · Child and Animal Learning Development · Computer Science · Language Development and Disorders · Mathematics · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development · Artificial Intelligence

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access