Lietuvių vaikų ir suaugusiųjų kalbos vidutinis pasakymo ilgis

LTŠiame straipsnyje analizuojama viena iš svarbiausių sakytinės kalbos ypatybių – vidutinis pasakymo ilgis (angl. MLU) spontaninėje lietuvių (vaikų ir suaugusiųjų) kalboje. Vidutinis pasakymo ilgis vaikų kalbos tyrimuose atskleidžia ne tik žodyno, gramatikos išsivystymo charakteristiką, bet ir bendrąją kalbos ir pažintinę raidą. Suaugusiųjų kalbos tyrimams ši kalbos ypatybė taip pat yra svarbi: tam tikri nuokrypiai nuo standartinio vidutinio pasakymo ilgio gali būti kalbos ir / ar intelekto sutrikimo požymis. Tyrimas atliktas tekstynų lingvistikos metodu analizuojant VDU Sakytinės lietuvių vaikų (1,5–5 m.) kalboje vidutinis pasakymo ilgis nuosekliai didėja ir sulaukus priešmokyklinio amžiaus (6–7 m.) pasiekia natūraliai spontaninei suaugusiųjų kalbai būdingą lygį. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Psicholingvistika; Sakytinė kalba; Vaikų kalba; Vidutinis pasakymo ilgis; Vidutinis pasakymo ilgis (VPI); Child Language; MLU; Psycholinguistics; Spoken Language; The mean length utterance.

ENThe mean length of utterance (MLU) is a measure of linguistic productivity in children. It is calculated in morphemes or in words by dividing the number of morphemes or words by the total number of utterances (Parker 2005), with an utterance defined as a sequence of words preceded and followed by change of turn in a conversation (Deepak et al 2009). […] Despite the debates, a mean length of utterance (MLU) appears to be one of the most significant criteria of child language development and also one of characteristics of adult spoken language. In child language studies, MLU index identifies a stage of a general language and cognitive development. In adult language studies, a significant deviation from a standard MLU is a characteristic of language / mental disorders. However, in Lithuania the MLU was not systematically investigated (excepting a few children language studies, where the MLU was calculated as a criterion for sampling). The aim of the study was to investigate a standard MLU(w) in spontaneous Lithuanian children and adult speech. The following tasks were carried out: 1) an appropriate spoken language data was selected; 2) the data were analyzed using CHILDES (Child Language Data Exchange System, MacWhinney, 1991); 3) the results were generalized and the conclusions were stated. The study was carried out at Vytautas Magnus University and was based on The Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian and The Corpus of Lithuanian Children. The data contain 136.335 morphologically annotated words.During the investigation, the material was classified into 5 groups by age: a) 1,7–4,1 years age; b) 6–7 years age; c) 8–9 years age; d) 11–12 years age; e) adults. The following methods were applied when carrying out the study: 1) cross-sectional method (for sampling); 2) cor pus linguistics method (for analysing the data). After the analysis, the following can be stated: the MLU increases consistently from 1,1 to 3,2 words during the period 1,7–4,1; and the girls’ MLU develops more consistently than the boys’ MLU (however the difference is not significant). Preschoolers’ (6–7 years age) MLU is 2,4–3,9 words, and during this period the children’s MLU equals a measure of adult natural spontaneous speech. Second grade pupils (8–9 years age) MLU measure is the highest (2,9–5 words) in comparison to other target groups. This progress can be partially influenced by an intensive development / teaching of a written discourse. Fifth-grade pupils’ MLU measure was equal or even lower (2,5–4,0 words) in comparison to the second grade, i.e. a decrease of MLU was observed. This phenomenon can be partially linked to a formation / dominance of typical adolescent conversation style. Standard adults’ MLU measure was 4,0–4,5 words, i.e. adult MLU measure is similar to the MLU among the second grade (8–9 years) pupils. However, generalized conclusions about Lithuanian standard MLU still can not be stated, whereas we still need more comprehensive investigations. But the main tendencies of Lithuanian children and adult MLU can be observed, especially by taking into account criteria of sampling, i.e. the most typical subjects (both children and adults) were selected for the study. [From the publication]