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ERIC Number: EJ742659
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Jun
Pages: 16
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1092-4388
EISSN: N/A
Lexical-Semantic Organization in Bilingual Children: Evidence from a Repeated Word Association Task
Sheng, Li; McGregor, Karla K.; Marian, Viorica
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v49 n3 p572-587 Jun 2006
Purpose: This study examined lexical-semantic organization of bilingual children in their 2 languages and in relation to monolingual age-mates. Method: Twelve Mandarin-English bilingual and 12 English monolingual children generated 3 associations to each of 36 words. Responses were coded as paradigmatic ("dog-cat") or syntagmatic ("dog-bark"). Results: Within the bilingual group, word association performance was comparable and correlated between 1st and 2nd languages. Bilingual and monolingual children demonstrated similar patterns of responses, but subtle group differences were also revealed. When between-group comparisons were made on English measures, there was a bilingual advantage in paradigmatic responding during the 1st elicitation and for verbs. Conclusion: Results support previous studies in finding parallel development in bilinguals' 1st- and 2nd-language lexical-semantic skills and provide preliminary evidence that bilingualism may enhance paradigmatic organization of the semantic lexicon. (Contains 3 tables, 2 figures, and 3 footnotes.)
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. Tel: 800-638-8255; Fax: 301-571-0457; e-mail: subscribe@asha.org; Web site: http://www.asha.org/about/publications/journal-abstracts/jslhr/.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A