LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 23:7 July 2023
ISSN 1930-2940

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         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
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Study of Semantic and Syntactic Aspects in L2 of Bilingual Primary School Children

Aishwarya Narayanan, MASLP (riya.asih95@gmail.com)
Sivaranjani Gnanasekaran, MASLP (siva.insia@gmail.com)
Dr. Usha A Dalvi, Ph.D. (ushadt@yahoo.co.in)

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate lexical diversity and sentence types in English. Sequential bilingual children from third (n=60) and fifth grade (n=60) were evaluated using an observation checklist and a language screening. 120 children identified with age-appropriate skills from screening were selected and written samples were collected in English using three written tasks. These samples were analyzed using TTR and Sentence Types. t-Test was done to identify the effect of age, gender, parental education, and school location on TTR, and Chi-square test was used to identify the influence of these factors on sentence production. Findings suggested that lexical diversity is not significantly influenced by grade but is influenced by gender, parental education, and school location. However, sentence types are influenced by all of these factors.

Keywords: Semantics, Syntax, Bilingual, Lexical Diversity, Sentence Types

Introduction

Language acquisition begins with the infant’s ability to perceive and discriminate speech sounds. It is followed by the process of word learning, sequencing, and combining words to form phrases and sentences. As the grammatical knowledge improves, the production of lengthy and complex sentences becomes possible (Hoff, 2009). Early bilinguals develop the ability to learn two phonological systems, grammar and vocabulary depending on the time at which the second language exposure begins and the amount of such exposure (Hoff, Core, Place, Rumiche, Sero & Parra, 2012; Kim, Park & Lust, 2016; Hoff et al., 2012). The extent of proficiency in these languages is determined by measures like lexical diversity and sentence types. The current study is an attempt to study these elements in Tamil-speaking sequential bilingual children.

Lexical Diversity

Children learn new words every day and have a vocabulary of 10,000 words by the age of 6 years (Clark, 1995). This results in a significant increase of lexical items and lexical diversity observed in their language samples. Lexical diversity is the measure of how many various types of words are used within a text. The higher the number of word varieties used, the higher the lexical diversity (Johansson, 2008). It reflects the vocabulary size and multidimensional complexity of mental lexicon usage (Edwards, Collins, Jarvis & Daller, 2013). In sequential bilinguals, lexical diversity in L2 can be a measure of productivity in that language. It may be influenced by L1 background, the L1-L2 age proximity, L2 proficiency, and the language usage context of L2 (Schmitt & Meara, 1997). In languages with limited standardized test materials for bilinguals, measures of lexical diversity are a valid tool (Treffers-Daller, 2011).

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Aishwarya Narayanan, MASLP (riya.asih95@gmail.com)
Sivaranjani Gnanasekaran, MASLP (siva.insia@gmail.com)
Dr. Usha A Dalvi, Ph.D. (ushadt@yahoo.co.in)

Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology
SRM Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre
SRM Institute of Science and Technology, SRM Nagar, Kattankulathur
Potheri – 603203, Chengalpet District, Tamil Nadu, India
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