Ghawi-Dakwar Ola, Saiegh-Haddad Elinor
English Literature & Linguistics Department, Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
Beit Berl College, Israel.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2025 Mar 26;68(3S):1533-1551. doi: 10.1044/2024_JSLHR-23-00618. Epub 2024 Oct 7.
Word learning requires the creation of phonological and semantic representations and links in long-term memory. Phonological distance of a given word from the spoken language affects children's lexical-phonological representations and processing. The study investigates the role of the phonological distance of Modern Standard Arabic (StA) words from the child's Spoken Arabic (SpA) vernacular in word learning in Arabic diglossia. It also examines whether, given their vulnerable phonological skills, children with developmental language disorder (DLD) show a stronger impact of phonological distance on word learning than children with typical language development (TLD).
One hundred children with TLD and DLD in kindergarten and in first grade (25 per group) were tested on comprehension and production word-learning probes manipulating phonological distance. Learning monosyllabic and disyllabic nonwords encoding only SpA phonemes was compared with the learning of parallel nonwords encoding one unique StA consonant each.
Repeated-measures analyses of variance showed higher word learning scores in children with TLD on both probes and for both syllable lengths. Moreover, all children fared significantly lower, in both comprehension and production probes, when the target stimulus was phonologically distant from the spoken language. Finally, an interaction effect was observed on the production probes, revealing differences in the developmental dynamics of phonological distance effects between the groups: Phonological distance hindered word learning among children with TLD in kindergarten, but among children with DLD in the first grade.
The results support the role of phonological distance as a phonological complexity factor in word learning in Arabic diglossia. Furthermore, they show that the effect of phonological distance is complex and it interacts with modality, language aptitude, and grade level. The theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
词汇学习需要在长期记忆中创建语音和语义表征以及联系。给定单词与口语的语音距离会影响儿童的词汇语音表征和处理。本研究调查了现代标准阿拉伯语（StA）单词与儿童口语阿拉伯语（SpA）方言之间的语音距离在阿拉伯语双言制词汇学习中的作用。研究还考察了鉴于其脆弱的语音技能，发育性语言障碍（DLD）儿童在词汇学习中是否比典型语言发展（TLD）儿童表现出更强的语音距离影响。
对100名幼儿园和一年级的TLD和DLD儿童（每组25名）进行了关于操纵语音距离的理解和产出词汇学习测试。将学习仅编码SpA音素的单音节和双音节非词与学习每个编码一个独特StA辅音的平行非词进行比较。
重复测量方差分析显示，TLD儿童在两种测试和两种音节长度上的词汇学习得分都更高。此外，当目标刺激在语音上与口语距离较远时，所有儿童在理解和产出测试中的表现都显著更低。最后，在产出测试中观察到交互作用效应，揭示了两组之间语音距离效应发展动态的差异：语音距离阻碍了幼儿园TLD儿童的词汇学习，但阻碍了一年级DLD儿童的词汇学习。
研究结果支持语音距离作为阿拉伯语双言制词汇学习中语音复杂因素的作用。此外，研究结果表明语音距离的影响是复杂的，并且它与模态、语言能力和年级水平相互作用。文中讨论了理论和临床意义。
