Socioeconomic status differences in the linguistic environment: a study with Spanish-speaking populations in Argentina

STEIN, A.; MENTI, A.; ROSEMBERG, C. R.

Early Years. An international research journal

Taylor & Francis

Año: 2021

0957-5146

Evidence shows individual variation in lexical acquisition as a function of socioeconomic status and linguistic input. Research have primarily involved English-speaking populations and have considered only mothers? child-directed speech (CDS). This study analyzes the effects of socioeconomic status on quantitative and qualitative properties of linguistic input ? child-directed and overheard ? to Argentinean children, an understudied population. The data consists of 54 hours of audio recording during home observations of 27 Spanish-learning infants (8-18 months old) from low- and middle-socioeconomic households. Results show the different impact of socioeconomic status on quantitative and qualitative input properties according to the definition of input considered (CDS and overheard input from all participants, CDS from the primary caregiver, CDS from all participants).