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The role of imageability in noun and verb acquisition in children with Down syndrome and their peers with typical development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2023

Miguel GALEOTE Open the ORCID record for Miguel GALEOTE [Opens in a new window] ,
Natalia ARIAS-TREJO Open the ORCID record for Natalia ARIAS-TREJO [Opens in a new window] ,
Armando Q. ANGULO-CHAVIRA  and
Elena CHECA
Miguel GALEOTE*
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Malaga, Málaga (Spain)
Natalia ARIAS-TREJO
Affiliation:
Psycholinguistics Laboratory, Faculty of Psychology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City (Mexico)
Armando Q. ANGULO-CHAVIRA
Affiliation:
Psycholinguistics Laboratory, Faculty of Psychology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City (Mexico)
Elena CHECA
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Malaga, Málaga (Spain)
*
Corresponding author: Miguel Galeote; Email: mgaleote@uma.es
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Abstract

Our main objective was to analyze the role of imageability in relation to the age of acquisition (AoA) of nouns and verbs in Spanish-speaking children with Down syndrome (DS) and their peers with typical development (TD). The AoA of nouns and verbs was determined using the MacArthur-Bates CDIs adapted to the profile of children with DS. The AoA was analyzed using a linear mixed-effect model, including factors of imageability, group, and word class, and controlling for word frequency and word length. This analysis showed that high imaginable and short words were acquired early. Children with DS acquired the words later than TD peers. An interaction between imageability and group indicated that the effect of imageability was greater in the DS group. We discuss this effect considering DS children’s phonological memory difficulties. The overall results confirm the role that imageability and word length play in lexical acquisition, an effect that goes beyond word class.

Keywords

Down syndromenoun and verb acquisitionimageabilityword length
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , May 2024 , pp. 616 - 636
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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