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Cited by 200Language Development and DisordersNeurobiology of Language and BilingualismSecond Language Acquisition and Learning

A cross-linguistic and bilingual evaluation of the interdependence between lexical and grammatical domains

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SIMON-CEREIJIDO, GABRIELA, GUTIÉRREZ-CLELLEN, VERA F.·2009·Applied Psycholinguistics
DOI 10.1017/s0142716409090134PMC PMC2681320
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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine within- and across-language relationships between lexical and grammatical domains by focusing on measures of lexical diversity and grammatical complexity in Spanish and English. One hundred ninety-six preschool and school-aged Latino children with different levels of English and Spanish proficiencies and different language abilities produced narratives in Spanish, English, or both. Analyses revealed strong associations between lexical (number of different words and number of different verbs) and grammatical measures (mean length of utterances in words and use of ditransitive predicates), supporting the domain interdependence hypothesis within a language. Cross-linguistic comparisons indicate a greater diversity of verbs and ditransitive predicates in Spanish compared to English for this population. In the language samples of children who produced narratives in the two languages, there was no relationship between the two domains across languages. The lack of cross-language correlations may be related to other variables influencing lexical and semantic development in bilingual learners. Methodological issues to be considered in future studies with bilingual speakers are discussed.

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  • Evidence for significant cross-language cross-domain (lexicon, grammar) correlations is limited.

    “Evidence for significant cross-language cross-domain (lexicon, grammar) correlations is limited (Bedore et al., 2010;Simon-Cereijido & Gutiérrez-Clellen, 2009), but this research has not investigated any modulating effects of language distance.”

    From Cross-language distance influences receptive vocabulary outcomes of bilingual children (2020) · cites this paper as Simon-Cereijido & Gutiérrez-Clellen, 2009

  • Research on cross-language cross-domain correlations has not investigated modulating effects of language distance.

    “Evidence for significant cross-language cross-domain (lexicon, grammar) correlations is limited (Bedore et al., 2010;Simon-Cereijido & Gutiérrez-Clellen, 2009), but this research has not investigated any modulating effects of language distance.”

    From Cross-language distance influences receptive vocabulary outcomes of bilingual children (2020) · cites this paper as Simon-Cereijido & Gutiérrez-Clellen, 2009

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Authors
SIMON-CEREIJIDO, G., & GUTIÉRREZ-CLELLEN, V. F.
Venue
Applied Psycholinguistics
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published
2009-04
Volume
30
Issue
2
Pages
315-337
ISSN
  • 0142-7164 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-1817
DOI
10.1017/s0142716409090134
PMC
PMC2681320
OpenAlex
W1997707563
Cited by
200
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 45 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 16
FWCI
12.52
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified)
Locations
  • Applied Psycholinguistics (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (T32DC000041)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R25GM058906)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
Keywords
lexical diversity, grammatical complexity, bilingual children, Spanish-English bilingualism, Latino children, mean length of utterance, cross-linguistic comparison, narrative language, language proficiency, lexical-semantic development

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