Investigating early language development in a bilectal context
Date Issued
September 7, 2015
Abstract
The study of language development has focused on monolingual, and more recently
bilingual development, but a much under-studied situation exists for children who grow up
exposed to two dialects of the same language. One such case can be found in the bilectal linguistic
community of Cyprus, where two varieties of the same language, Cypriot Greek and Standard
Modern Greek, co-exist and shape language development. This study presents the Cypriot Greek
adaptation of the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) along with data
from five age groups, toddlers between 18 and 30 months of age. The preliminary data already
show a clear pattern of increase in vocabulary production across ages, as expected, and a semantic
profile of children which agrees with models of lexical development from other languages. The
CDI has the potential to become a valuable tool for research and clinicians on the island, and the
Greek-speaking world in general, but also to provide researchers with a thorough understanding of
very early language development in the bilectal community of Cyprus.
bilingual development, but a much under-studied situation exists for children who grow up
exposed to two dialects of the same language. One such case can be found in the bilectal linguistic
community of Cyprus, where two varieties of the same language, Cypriot Greek and Standard
Modern Greek, co-exist and shape language development. This study presents the Cypriot Greek
adaptation of the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) along with data
from five age groups, toddlers between 18 and 30 months of age. The preliminary data already
show a clear pattern of increase in vocabulary production across ages, as expected, and a semantic
profile of children which agrees with models of lexical development from other languages. The
CDI has the potential to become a valuable tool for research and clinicians on the island, and the
Greek-speaking world in general, but also to provide researchers with a thorough understanding of
very early language development in the bilectal community of Cyprus.