Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T12:14:40.522Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cultural differences in the content of child talk: evaluative lexis of English monolingual and Spanish–English bilingual 30-month-olds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

Martha SHIRO Open the ORCID record for Martha SHIRO [Opens in a new window] ,
Erika HOFF  and
Krystal M. RIBOT
Martha SHIRO*
Affiliation:
Universidad Central de Venezuela, Florida Atlantic University, USA
Erika HOFF
Affiliation:
Florida Atlantic University, USA
Krystal M. RIBOT
Affiliation:
Miami Dade College, USA
*
*Corresponding author: 21200 NE 38th Ave. Apt. 2005, Miami, FL33180USA. Tel.: 1 212 9774828; E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We examined the size, content, and use of evaluative lexis by 26 English monolingual and 20 Spanish–English bilingual 30-month-old children in interaction with their mothers. We extracted the evaluative words, defined as words referring to cognition, volition, or emotion. Controlling for overall vocabulary skills as measured by the MacArthur-Bates inventories, monolinguals had a larger evaluative lexicon than the bilinguals’ Spanish evaluative lexicon, but no difference was found between monolinguals’ and bilinguals’ English evaluative lexicons. There were differences between the monolinguals and bilinguals in the distribution of evaluative words across semantic categories: English monolingual children used more words pertaining to volition and cognition and talked more about volition than the Spanish–English bilingual children. These results suggest that the development of evaluative lexicons is influenced by cultural differences, and consequently, bilingual children, who are also bicultural, follow a different developmental path in both languages from the path followed by their monolingual peers.

Keywords

evaluative termsSpanish–English bilingualsEnglish monolingualsearly vocabulary
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 47 , Issue 4 , July 2020 , pp. 844 - 869
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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.)

References

Alarcón Neve, L. J. (2014). Evaluación de estados mentales de personajes por medio de construcciones adjetivales en cuentos de niños escolares. In Barriga Villanueva, R. (Ed.). Las narrativas y su impacto en el desarrollo lingüístico infantil (pp. 143–72). México: El Colegio de México.Google Scholar
Altarriba, J. (2003). Does cariño equal ‘liking’? A theoretical approach to conceptual nonequivalence between languages. International Journal of Bilingualism, 7(3): 305–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Altarriba, J. (2006). Cognitive approaches to the study of emotion-laden and emotion words in monolingual and bilingual memory. In Pavlenko, A. (Ed.). Bilingual minds: emotional experience, expression, and representation (pp. 232–56). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Astington, J. W., & Jenkins, J. M. (1999). A longitudinal study of the relation between language and theory of mind development. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1311–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bartsch, K., & Wellman, H. M. (1995). Children talk about the mind. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Besemeres, M. (2004) Different languages, different emotions? Perspectives from autobiographical literature. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 25(2/3), 140–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bretherton, I., & Beeghly, M. (1982). Talking about internal states: the acquisition of an explicit theory of mind. Developmental Psychology, 8, 906–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bocaz, A. (1996). El paisaje de la conciencia en la producción de narraciones infantiles. Lenguas Modernas, 23, 49–70.Google Scholar
Caselli, M. C., Bates, E., Casadio, P., Fenson, J., Fenson, L., Sanderl, L., & Weir, J. (1995). A cross-linguistic study of early lexical development. Cognitive Development, 10(2), 159–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, E. V. (1993). The lexicon in acquisition. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conboy, B. T., & Thal, D. J. (2006). Ties between the lexicon and grammar: cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of bilingual toddlers. Child Development, 77, 712–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Core, C., Hoff, E., Rumiche, R., & Señor, M. (2013). Total and conceptual vocabulary in Spanish–English bilinguals from 22 to 30 months: implications for assessment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 56, 1637–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Rosnay, M., Fink, E., Begeer, S., Slaughter, V., & Peterson, C. (2014). Talking theory of mind talk: young school-aged children's everyday conversation and understanding of mind and emotion. Journal of Child Language, 41(5), 1179–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dewaele, J. M. (2006). Expressing anger in multiple languages. In Pavlenko, A. (Ed.), Bilingual minds: emotional experience, expression and representation (pp. 118–51). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Degotardi, S., & Torr, J. (2007). A longitudinal investigation of mothers’ mind related talk to their 12- to 24-month-old infants. Early Child Development and Care, 177(6/7), 767–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dumitrescu, D. (2015). Aspectos pragmáticos y discursivos del español estadounidense Informes del Observatorio / Observatorio Reports. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Dunn, J., Bretherton, I., & Munn, P. (1987). Conversations about feelings between mothers and their young children. Developmental Psychology, 23(1), 132–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J., Brown, J., & Beardsall, L. (1991). Family talk about feeling states and children's later understanding of others’ emotions. Developmental Psychology, 27, 448–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenson, L., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S., & Bates, E. (1994). Variability in early communicative development. Monograpahs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59 (5, Serial No. 242).Google ScholarPubMed
Ferres, L. (2003). Children's early theory of mind: exploring the development of the concept of desire in monolingual Spanish children. Developmental Science, 6(2), 159–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fusté-Herrmann, B., Silliman, E. R., Bahr, R. H., Fasnacht, K. S., & Federico, J. E. (2006). Mental state verb production in the oral narratives of English- and Spanish-speaking preadolescents: an exploratory study of lexical diversity and depth. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 2(1), 44–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gärdenfors, P. (2004). Conceptual spaces as a framework for knowledge representation. Mind and Matter, 2(2), 9–2.Google Scholar
Goddard, C., & Wierzbicka, A. (2014). Words and meanings: lexical semantics across domains, languages and cultures. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hall, W., & Nagy, W. (1987). The semantic–pragmatic distinction in the investigation of mental state words: the role of the situation. Discourse Processes, 10, 169–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K., & Mathiessen, C. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Hammer, C. S., Hoff, E., Uchikoshi, Y., Gillanders, C., Castro, D. C., & Sandilos, L. E. (2014). The language and literacy development of young dual language learners: a critical review. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(4), 715–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harris, P. (1989). Children and emotion. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Harris, P. L., de Rosnay, M., & Pons, F. (2005). Language and children's understanding of mental states. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(2), 69–73.CrossRefGoogle 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.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1997). Frog stories from four-year-olds: individual differences in the expression of referential and evaluative content. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 7(1/4), 223–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson-Maldonado, D., Thal, D. J., Fenson, L., Marchman, V., Newton, T., & Conboy, B. (2003). El inventario del desarrollo de habilidades comunicativas: user's guide and technical manual. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R. (1975). Ensayos de lingüística general. Barcelona: Seix Barral.Google Scholar
Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES Project: tools for analyzing talk. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Marchman, V. A., Fernald, A., & Hurtado, N. (2010). How vocabulary size in two languages relates to efficiency in spoken word recognition by young Spanish–English bilinguals. Journal of Child Language, 37(4), 817–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelson, K. (2014). A matter of meaning: reflections on forty years of JCL. Journal of Child Language, 41(S1), 93–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oller, D. K., Pearson, B. Z., & Cobo-Lewis, A. B. (2007). Profile effects in early bilingual language and literacy. Applied Psycholinguistics, 28(2), 191–230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paradis, J., & Kirova, A. (2014). English second-language learners in preschool: Profile effects in their English abilities and the role of home language environment. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 38(4), 342–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pascual, B., Aguado, G., Sotillo, M., & Masdeu, J. (2008). Acquisition of mental state language in Spanish children: a longitudinal study of the relationship between the production of mental verbs and linguistic development. Developmental Science, 11(4), 454–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pavlenko, A. (2002). Bilingualism and emotion. Multilingua, 21(1), 45–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pavlenko, A. (Ed.) (2006). Bilingual minds: emotional experience, expression and representation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pavlenko, A. (2008). Emotion and emotion-laden words in the bilingual lexicon. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11(2), 147–64.CrossRefGoogle 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
Pearson, B. Z., Fernández, S., & Oller, D. K. (1995). Cross-language synonyms in the lexicons of bilingual infants: One language or two? Journal of Child Language, 22, 345–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peña, E., Bedore, L., & Rappazzo, C. (2003). Comparison of Spanish, English and bilingual children's performance across semantic tasks. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 34, 5–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peskin, J., & Astington, J. (2004). The effects of adding metacognitive language to story texts. Cognitive Development, 19, 253–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pine, J. M., Lieven, E. V. M., & Rowland, C. (1996). Observational and checklist measures of vocabulary composition: What do they mean? Journal of Child Language, 23, 573–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Place, S., & Hoff, E. (2016). Effects and noneffects of input in bilingual environments on dual language skills in 2½-year-olds. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(5), 1023–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ridgeway, D., Waters, E., & Kuczaj, S. A. (1985). The acquisition of emotion descriptive language: receptive and productive vocabulary norms for ages 18 months to 6 years. Developmental Psychology, 21, 901–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosch, E. (1975). Cognitive representation of semantic categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 104, 192–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schrauf, R. W., & Durazo-Arvizu, R. (2006). Bilingual autobiographical memory and emotion: theory and methods. In Pavlenko, A. (Ed.), Bilingual minds: emotional experience, expression and representation (pp. 284–311). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shatz, M., Wellman, H., & Silber, S. (1983). The acquisition of mental verbs: a systematic investigation of the first reference to mental state. Cognition, 14, 301–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shiro, M. (2007). La construcción del punto de vista en los relatos orales de iños en edad escolar: un análisis discursivo de la modalidad. Caracas: Universidad Central de Venezuela.Google Scholar
Shiro, M. (2008). Narrative stance in Venezuelan children's stories. In McCabe, A., Bailey, A. L., & Melzi, G. (Eds.), Spanish-language narration and literacy (pp. 213–36). Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shiro, M. (2016). The language of affect in bilingual child directed speech. In Perera, J., Aparici, M., Rosado, E., & Salas, N. (Eds.), Written and spoken language development across the lifespan: essays in honour of Liliana Tolchinsky (pp. 47–64). Amsterdam: Julius Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shiro M., Hoff, & Shanks, E., K. (2018). El uso de palabras que remiten a emociones, cognición y volición en niños bilingües de 30 meses. In Rojas, C. & Oropeza, V. (Eds.), Diferencias individuales en la adquisición del lenguaje. Factores lingüísticos, cognitivos, socioambientales (pp. 159–93). México: UNAM.Google Scholar
Silvén, M., Voeten, M., Kouvo, A., & Lundén, M. (2014). Speech perception and vocabulary growth: a longitudinal study of Finnish–Russian bilinguals and Finnish monolinguals from infancy to three years. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 38(4), 323–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tamis-LeMonda, C., Song, L., Leavell, A. S., Kahana-Kalman, R., & Yoshikawa, H. (2012). Ethnic differences in mother–infant language and gestural communications are associated with specific skills in infants. Developmental Science, 15(3), 384–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tardif, T., Gelman, S. A., & Xu, F. (1999). Putting the ‘noun bias’ in context: a comparison of English and Mandarin. Child Development, 70(3), 620–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taumoepeau, M., & Ruffman, T. (2006). Mother and infant talk about mental states relates to desire language and emotion understanding. Child Development, 77(2), 465–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, G., & Hunston, S. (2001). Evaluation: an introduction. In Hunston, S. & Thompson, G. (Eds.), Evaluation in text (pp. 1–27). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Toribio, A. J. (2011). Code-switching among US Latinos. In Diaz-Campos, M. (Ed.), The handbook of Hispanic sociolinguistics (pp. 530–52). New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vagh, S. B., Pan, B. A., & Mancilla-Martinez, J. (2009). Measuring growth in bilingual and monolingual children's English productive vocabulary development: the utility of combining parent and teacher report. Child Development, 80(5), 1545–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Voloshinov, V. (1973). Marxism and the philosophy of language. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wellman, H., & Lagattuta, K. (2004). Theory of mind for learning and teaching: the nature and role of explanation. Cognitive Development, 19, 479–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wierzbicka, A. (1999). Emotions across languages and cultures: diversity and universals. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar