Vocabulary Characteristics in Japanese Children Who are Late Talkers

: This study investigated the vocabulary characteristics in Japanese children with delayed expressive language, who are labeled late talkers (LTs), by comparing the vocabularies of LTs at 24 months with age-matched (AM) and vocabulary-matched (VM) peers. Using the Japanese version of Communicative Development Inventories, children’s vocabularies were classified into vocabulary categories (e.g., animals, vehicles, toys) and semantic categories (e.g., common nouns, predicates, social words, onomatopoeia). The results indicated that the vocabulary categories of LTs closely resembled those of their VM peers. The results of the semantic categories revealed that the proportions of common nouns and predicates are higher in AM peers, while those of social words and onomatopoeia are higher in the LT and VM peers. Moreover, the vocabularies of AM peers showed a larger proportion of common nouns than the other categories. These findings indicate that Japanese children who are LTs acquire vocabularies in similar patterns as their typical peers, although their acquisition is delayed.

本研究通过比较24个月的晚说话儿童（LTs）与年龄匹配（AM）和词汇量匹配（VM）的同龄人词汇，对有表达性语言迟缓的日本儿童（被标记为晚说话儿童）的词汇特征进行了调查。使用日语版的《沟通发展量表》，儿童的词汇被分类为词汇类别（例如，动物、交通工具、玩具）和语义类别（例如，普通名词、谓语、社交词汇、拟声词）。结果表明，晚说话儿童的词汇类别与词汇量匹配的同龄人非常相似。语义类别的结果显示，普通名词和谓语的比例在年龄匹配的同龄人中较高，而社交词汇和拟声词的比例在晚说话儿童和词汇量匹配的同龄人中较高。此外，年龄匹配的同龄人的词汇中普通名词所占比例比其他类别更大。这些研究结果表明，日本的晚说话儿童虽然词汇习得有所延迟，但他们习得词汇的模式与正常同龄人相似。