Abstract：
Languages vary in their complexity; caregivers vary in the way they structure their communicative interactions with children; and boys and girls can differ in their language skills. Using a multilevel modelling approach, we explored how these factors influence the path of language acquisition for young children growing up around the world (mean age 2-years 9-months; 56 girls). Across 43 different sites, we analysed 103 mother-child pairs who spoke 3,170,633 utterances, 16,209,659 morphemes, divided across 20 different languages: Afrikaans, Catalan, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, English, Farsi, French, German, Hebrew, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. Using mean length of utterance (MLU) as a measure of language complexity and developmental skill, we found that variation in children\'s MLU was significantly explained by (a) between-language differences; namely the rate of child MLU growth was attuned to the complexity of their mother tongue, and (b) between-mother differences; namely mothers who used higher MLUs tended to have children with higher MLUs, regardless of which language they were learning and especially in the very young (<2.5 years-old). Controlling for family and language environment, we found no evidence of MLU sex differences in child speech nor in the speech addressed to boys and girls. By modelling language as a multilevel structure with cross-cultural variation, we were able to disentangle those factors that make children\'s pathway to language different and those that make it alike. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: The speech of 103 mother-child pairs from 20 different languages showed large variation in the path of early language development. Language, family, but not the sex of the child, accounted for a significant proportion of individual differences in child speech, especially in the very young. The rate at which children learned language was attuned to the complexity of their mother tongue, with steeper trajectories for more complex language. Results demonstrate the relative influence of culture, family, and sex in shaping the path of language acquisition for different children.
摘要：
语言的复杂性各不相同；看护者与儿童的交流互动结构不同；男孩和女孩的语言技能可能不同。使用多层次建模方法，我们探讨了这些因素如何影响世界各地成长的幼儿(平均年龄2岁9个月;56名女孩)的语言习得路径.在43个不同的地点，我们分析了103对说3,170,633句话的母子对，16,209,659个语素，分为20种不同的语言：南非荷兰语，加泰罗尼亚语,粤语,丹麦语,荷兰人,英语,波斯语,法语,德语,希伯来语,冰岛语,爱尔兰人,意大利语,日本人,普通话，挪威语,葡萄牙语,西班牙语,瑞典语和土耳其语。使用平均语长(MLU)作为语言复杂性和发展技能的衡量标准，我们发现，在儿童的MLU的变化显着解释（a）语言之间的差异;即儿童MLU的增长速度与他们的母语的复杂性，和(b)母亲之间的差异；即使用较高MLU的母亲倾向于有较高MLU的孩子，无论他们学习哪种语言，尤其是在很小的时候（<2.5岁）。控制家庭和语言环境，我们在儿童言语和针对男孩和女孩的言语中没有发现MLU性别差异的证据.通过将语言建模为具有跨文化变异的多层次结构，我们能够解开那些使儿童的语言路径不同的因素和那些使它相同的因素。研究重点：来自20种不同语言的103对母子的语音显示出早期语言发展路径的巨大差异。语言,家庭,但不是孩子的性别,占儿童言语个体差异的很大比例，尤其是在很小的时候。儿童学习语言的速度与母语的复杂性相协调，更复杂的语言轨迹更陡峭。结果表明文化的相对影响，家庭,和性别塑造了不同儿童的语言习得路径。
