Do early noun and verb production predict later verb and noun production? Theoretical implications.
Emiddia Longobardi, Pietro Spataro, Diane L Putnick and 1 others
PMID 26880050WHAT IT FOUND
Noun production at 1;4 predicted verb production at 1;8; verb production at 1;8 predicted noun production at 2;0 in 30 Italian toddlers.
Verb production at 1;4 did not predict noun production at 1;8.
Key findings
01Children's noun percentage at 1;4 significantly predicted their verb percentage at 1;8, and adding it increased explained variance from 20% to 51%.
02Children's verb percentage at 1;4 did not predict their noun percentage at 1;8.
03Children's verb percentage at 1;8 strongly predicted their noun opportunity score at 2;0, with noun percentage contributing less.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only 30 children were studied, all Italian-speaking, middle socioeconomic status, from Rome, and with no reported health or linguistic risk, so the results may not apply to other languages or children with concerns. The 2;0 measure was parent report, not the same video free-play method used at 1;4 and 1;8, which the authors say limits generalizability. Verb percentages at 1;4 had low variability, which may have hidden early verb-to-noun predictions. The study measured associations over time, not the effect of an intervention. Maternal language measures were too blunt to test their influence fully, because they averaged frequency across all utterance positions.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these associations as evidence that increasing noun production will increase verb production. The study measured natural production over time and did not test an intervention.