Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Central Florida, Orlando.
Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2024 Jul 3;33(4):1718-1747. doi: 10.1044/2024_AJSLP-23-00366. Epub 2024 Mar 20.
Selecting vocabulary for preliterate individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication presents multiple challenges, as the number of symbols provided must be balanced with cognitive, motoric, and other needs. Prioritizing certain types of vocabulary thus becomes a necessity. For example, prioritizing core vocabulary-that is, words that are commonly used across a group of people and contexts-is a common practice that attempts to address some of these issues. However, most core vocabulary research to date has narrowly focused on individual word counts, ignoring other critical aspects of language development such as how vocabulary aligns with typical development and how children use core and fringe vocabulary within their utterances.
Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze 112 transcripts to describe how typically developing toddlers (aged 2.5 years) use core and fringe vocabulary within their utterances, in reference to a range of commonly used core vocabulary lists.
Results indicated that the proportion of the toddlers' utterances that consisted of only core, only fringe, or core + fringe vocabulary varied dramatically depending on the size of the core vocabulary list used, with smaller core lists yielding few "core-only" utterances. Furthermore, utterances containing both core and fringe vocabulary were both grammatically and semantically superior to utterances containing only core or only fringe vocabulary, as evidenced by measures such as mean length of utterance and total number of words.
Thus, relying on word frequency counts is an insufficient basis for selecting vocabulary for aided preliterate communicators.
为了使用增强和替代沟通的未识字个体选择词汇存在诸多挑战，因为提供的符号数量必须与认知、运动和其他需求相平衡。因此，优先考虑某些类型的词汇成为必要。例如，优先考虑核心词汇，即一组人在多种情境下经常使用的词汇，这是一种常见的做法，旨在解决其中的一些问题。然而，迄今为止，大多数核心词汇研究都狭隘地集中在单个单词计数上，忽略了语言发展的其他关键方面，如词汇如何与典型发展相匹配，以及儿童如何在其话语中使用核心和边缘词汇。
使用描述性和推断性统计分析了 112 个转录本，以描述 2.5 岁的正常发育的幼儿在其话语中如何使用核心和边缘词汇，参考了一系列常用的核心词汇表。
结果表明，幼儿话语中仅由核心、仅由边缘或核心+边缘词汇组成的比例根据使用的核心词汇表的大小而有很大差异，较小的核心词汇表产生的“仅核心”话语较少。此外，包含核心和边缘词汇的话语在语法和语义上都优于仅包含核心或仅包含边缘词汇的话语，这可以通过话语平均长度和总词数等指标来证明。
因此，仅依赖词汇频率计数是为辅助未识字者选择词汇的不充分依据。
