Question

Which of the following is true regarding the vocabulary of developing children?

1) Children who have parents with smaller vocabularies tend to also have smaller expressive vocabularies.
2) Children rapidly increase their vocabulary from 1.5 to 6 years of age.
3)hildren who do not babble by 1.5 years of age had smaller expressive vocabularies later in childhood.
4) Children with larger expressive vocabularies as infants had improved speech segmentation skills over time.

Answer 1

Vocabulary development in children is significantly affected by parental vocabulary size, and rapid vocabulary growth is common between 1.5 to 6 years of age. Babbling by 1.5 years can indicate future language proficiency, and early expressive vocabulary might improve speech segmentation skills over time.

Step-by-step explanation:

The vocabulary of developing children is influenced by various factors over the course of their growth. Children who have parents with smaller vocabularies tend to have smaller expressive vocabularies themselves because parents are primary language models for children. Language acquisition and vocabulary expansion are rapid between 1.5 to 6 years of age, a period during which children can experience what is sometimes referred to as a 'vocabulary spurt'. Although the expectation is that most children babble by 1.5 years of age and not doing so can indicate a concern for later vocabulary size, expressive vocabulary growth is variable and can be influenced by many factors. Concerning the acquisition of speech segmentation skills, it stands to reason that children with larger expressive vocabularies early on may have an enhanced ability to discern and segment speech over time, as their robust vocabulary would give them more exposure to different sounds and patterns within a language.