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Article published In: Written Language & Literacy
Vol. 23:1 (2020) ► pp.59–91

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Connective frequencies in child-directed texts

A corpus analysis in comparison to theorized orders of connective acquisition and to connective frequencies in adult-directed texts

 | Radboud University
 | Stichting Leerplanontwikkeling SLO
Published online: 19 October 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00033.tel
Abstract
Starting from a usage-based perspective of language acquisition, the present study investigates the occurrence of connectives in BasiLex, an 11.5 million word corpus of texts Dutch children encounter during the primary school years (grades 1–6). Specifically, we investigate how connective frequencies change across grades, how these changes reflect the theorized orders of connective acquisition in the work of Bloom, Lois, Margaret Lahey, Lois Hood, Karin Lifter & Kathleen Fiess. (1980). Complex sentences: Acquisition of syntactic connectives and the semantic relations they encode. Journal of Child Language 7(02): 235–261. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar and Evers-Vermeul, Jacqueline & Ted J. Sanders. (2009). The emergence of Dutch connectives; how cumulative cognitive complexity explains the order of acquisition. Journal of Child Language 36(04): 829–854. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, and we make a comparison with the frequencies of connectives in the adult written language corpus Celex. Briefly summarized, our findings show that the numbers of connectives increase sharply after grade 1 and then more steadily across grades 2 to 6; we see some reflection of the connective acquisition theory of Evers-Vermeul & Sanders in the connective frequencies in texts offered to children; and we see some remarkable similarities between connective frequencies in the adult corpus Celex as compared to connective frequencies in grade 1 and grade 6 texts in BasiLex. Our findings suggest that the written input offered to children harmonizes with theoretical approaches that emphasize the incremental growth of word knowledge in children as a function of exposure.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Empirical findings about connective acquisition
  • 3.Theories of connective acquisition
  • 4.Research questions and hypotheses
  • 5.Method
    • 5.1Selection of data and descriptive statistics
    • 5.2Linguistic categorization of the connectives
  • 6.Results and discussion
    • 6.1Threshold for inclusion in analysis
    • 6.2Frequency distribution in relative frequency ranges for each grade
    • 6.3Frequency per semantic category for each grade
    • 6.4Frequency per grade for each semantic category
    • 6.5Frequencies based on cognitive complexity
    • 6.6Comparisons with Celex
  • 7.General discussion
  • Notes
  • References
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Lehmkuhle, Ina & Josefin Lindgren
2024. Connectives in written narratives by German-speaking children in fourth grade and adults. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 43:2 ► pp. 267 ff. DOI logo

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