Does sex\/gender matter for language acquisition? Small female advantages in vocabulary size are well-documented. Girls, on average, begin to speak slightly earlier than boys (Bleses, et al., 2008; Wallentin, 2020), and small sex\/gender differences in mean vocabulary size have been shown consistently across languages, with girls outperforming boys on measures of receptive and productive vocabulary from a young age (Berglund, et al., 2005; Bleses, et al., 2008; Fenson, et al., 1994; Frank, et al., 2021; Simonsen, et al., 2013). In this study, however, we show that children\u2019s early vocabulary composition is a significantly better predictor of sex\/gender than size.<\/p>\n
We conducted classification analysis on word production from children (12-36 months, n =39,553) acquiring 26 different languages, using data from the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories Words and Sentences<\/em> (MB-CDI: WS)(Braginsky, et al., 2020; Fenson, et al., 2007; Frank, et al., 2017), available from Wordbank (http:\/\/wordbank.stanford.edu<\/a>).<\/p>\n Children\u2019s sex\/gender was classified above chance level in 22 out of 26 languages. Classification accuracy was significantly higher than for models based on vocabulary size and increased as a function of sample size. Classification accuracy also increased as a function of age and peaked at 30 months, reaching accuracy levels observed in studies of adult word use.<\/p>\n A sex\/gender score was computed for each word in a language based on classification coefficients. The higher the score, the more predictive a word is of sex\/gender. We used semantic\/grammatical category tags from the Wordbank database to predict the sex\/gender scores for individual words. Within languages, several categories were found to predict the sex\/gender score. In 24 out of 26 language samples, the category Clothing<\/em> significantly predicted sex\/gender score with a negative parameter estimate, indicating the category being used more by girls. In 23 out of 26 language samples, the category Vehicles<\/em> significantly predicted sex\/gender score with a positive parameter estimate, indicating the category being produced more by boys.<\/p>\n Across languages, a mixed-effects analysis with category as fixed-effects and language sample as random effects showed that sex\/gender scores were significantly predicted by the 3 categories Animals<\/em>, Body parts<\/em>, Clothing<\/em>, Connecting words<\/em>, Games\/Routines<\/em>, Toys<\/em> and Pronouns<\/em>, all of which were significantly more likely to be produced by girls; and Outside\/Places<\/em> and Vehicles<\/em>, which were more likely to be produced by boys.<\/p>\n These differences in vocabulary are indicative of biocultural differences in the lifeworld of children and may themselves cause further differences in development.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n References<\/p>\n Berglund, E., Eriksson, M., & Westerlund, M. (2005). Communicative skills in relation to gender, birth order, childcare and socioeconomic status in 18-month-old children. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology<\/em>, 46, 485-491, 10.1111\/j.1467- 9450.2005.00480.x<\/a><\/p>\n Bleses, D., Vach, W., Slott, M., Wehberg, S., Thomsen, P., Madsen, T. O., & Basb\u00f8ll, H. (2008). The Danish Communicative Developmental Inventories: validity and main developmental trends. Journal of Child Language<\/em>, 35, 1-19, 10.1017\/S0305000907008574<\/a><\/p>\n Braginsky, M., Yurovsky, D., Frank, M., & Kellier, D. (2020). Wordbankr: Accessing the Wordbank Database. . In. R package version 0.3.1., https:\/\/CRAN.Rproject.org\/package=wordbankr<\/a><\/p>\n Fenson, L., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S., Bates, E., Thal, D. J., & Pethick, S. J. (1994). Variability in early communicative development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development<\/em>, 59, 1-173; discussion 174-185<\/p>\n Fenson, L., Marchman, V. A., Thal, D., Dale, P., Reznick, J. S., & Bates, E. (2007). MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories: User\u2019s Guide and Technical Manual<\/em>. (2nd<\/sup> edition ed.). Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing Co.<\/p>\n Frank, M. C., Braginsky, M., Yurovsky, D., & Marchman, V. A. (2017). Wordbank: an open repository for developmental vocabulary data. Journal of Child Language<\/em>, 44, 677- 694, 10.1017\/S0305000916000209, https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/article\/wordbank-an-open-repository-fordevelopmental-vocabulary-data\/977D930531B5318CA976CD8582D9F401<\/a><\/p>\n Frank, M. C., Braginsky, M., Yurovsky, D., & Marchman, V. A. (2021). Variability and consistency in early language learning: The Wordbank project<\/em>. Cambridge MA: MIT Press<\/p>\n Simonsen, H. G., Kristoffersen, K. E., Bleses, D., Wehberg, S., & J\u00f8rgensen, R. N. (2013). The Norwegian Communicative Development Inventories: Reliability, main developmental trends and gender differences. First Language<\/em>, 34, 3-23, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0142723713510997<\/a><\/p>\n Wallentin, M. (2020). Gender differences in language are small but matter for disorders. In R. Lanzenberger, G. S. Kranz & I. Savic (Eds.), Handbook of Clinical Neurology<\/em> (Vol. 175, pp. 81-102): Elsevier, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/B978-0-444-64123-6.00007-2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mikkel Wallentin, Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, Aarhus University \/ Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University Hospital \/ Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University Fabio Trecca, Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, Aarhus University \/ TrygFonden\u2019s Centre for Child Research, Aarhus University Does sex\/gender matter for language acquisition? Small female advantages in … <\/p>\n