Investigating early language development in a bilectal context

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.