The relation between grammatical development and mean length of utterance in morphemes

Thomas M. Klee · Martha Fitzgerald

155 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Child Language

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Language Development and Disorders Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation Child and Animal Learning Development

Abstract

ABSTRACT A widely held practice in many studies of child language development and disorders has been to employ an easily calculated numerical metric, mean length of utterance measured in morphemes (MLU), as a ‘general index of grammatical development’. While this practice seems to have found acceptance among many students of child language, the usefulness of MLU past Stage II has been assumed but never empirically tested. This study evaluated the grammatical performance and MLU of 18 normally developing 2- and 3-year-old children and found that MLU did not correlate significantly with age (r = 0·26), nor did it discriminate children's profiles of grammatical development.

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References

1973A First Language 1974A First Language: The Early Stages 1974A grammar of contemporary English 1974A Grammar of Contemporary English 1973A cross-sectional study of the acquisition of grammatical morphemes in child speech 1981The Relation between Age and Mean Length of Utterance in Morphemes 1977Normal and Deficient child language 1982Profiling Linguistic Disability

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