Input: Quantity and Quality, Variety and Repetition

CELIA R ROSEMBERG; STEIN, ALEJANDRA; ALAM FLORENCIA; MAIA MIGDALEK

International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 3rd Edition

Elsevier

Año: 2025;

The language patterns children are exposed to in their environment constitute the input they analyze to learn the language of their community. This article references classic studies on child-directed speech along with more recent studies based on diverse naturalistic data that considered overheard speech of adults and children as other sources of linguistic input. It explores the quantitative and qualitative measures employed in the literature and examines repetition, variability, and contextual influences, including cultural and socioeconomic factors. Research on this field has shown that language development is influenced by the quantity and quality of linguistic input, especially in CDS. Findings also revealed that input is shaped contextually by sociocultural, socioeconomic, activity-specific, and interactional factors.