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Spontaneous verbal repetition in toddler-adult conversations: a longitudinal study with Spanish-speaking two- year-olds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2021

Marta CASLA ,
Celia MÉNDEZ-CABEZAS ,
Ignacio MONTERO ,
Eva MURILLO ,
Silvia NIEVA  and
Jessica RODRÍGUEZ
Marta CASLA*
Affiliation:
Dpto. Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación. Facultad de Psicología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
Celia MÉNDEZ-CABEZAS
Affiliation:
Dpto. Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación. Facultad de Psicología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
Ignacio MONTERO
Affiliation:
Dpto. Psicología Social y Metodología. Facultad de Psicología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
Eva MURILLO
Affiliation:
Dpto. Psicología Básica. Facultad de Psicología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
Silvia NIEVA
Affiliation:
Dpto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia. Facultad de Psicología.Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
Jessica RODRÍGUEZ
Affiliation:
Dpto. Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación. Facultad de Psicología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
*
Address for correspondence: Marta Casla, Dpto. Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Facultad de Psicología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. E-mail: marta.casla@uam.es
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Abstract

The role of children’s verbal repetition of parents’ utterances on vocabulary growth has been well documented (Masur, 1999). Nevertheless, few studies have analyzed adults’ and children’s spontaneous verbal repetition around the second birthday distinguishing between the types of repetition. We analyzed longitudinally Spanish-speaking parent-child dyads during spontaneous interaction at 21, 24 and 30 months. Linguistic level was measured using the Spanish version of the MacArthur CDI (López-Ornat et al., 2005). Children’s and adults’ repetitions are about 17% of the speech. Children repeated adults’ utterances in a reduced manner whereas adults produced more extended repetitions. Adults’ rate of repetition predicted children’s linguistic level at 30 months. Children’s rate of repetition did not predict linguistic level. These results suggest that parents adapt their speech to children’s communicative abilities. Since children’s rate of repetition did not predict linguistic level, we suggest that verbal imitation plays an indirect and complex role in communicative development.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , March 2022 , pp. 266 - 301
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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