Numerous countries possess rich histories of bi- or multilingualism, while many traditionally monolingual countries like the United States, are witnessing a growing trend toward bilingualism owing to increased immigration (August and Shanahan in J Lit Res 42:341–348, 2010). Nevertheless, most lexical assessments were initially devised for monolingual individuals, rendering them unsuitable for evaluating bilinguals accurately. The existing Mandarin vocabulary tests are either adaptations from English, such as the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Lu and Liu in Xiudingban Bibaode tuhua cihui ceyan [Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised]. Psychology Press, Taipei, 1998), or have undergone distinctive development processes compared to tests in other languages, thereby making them unsuitable for assessing bilingual individuals or supporting cross-linguistic investigations. In this paper, the author presents the development of an international and standardized picture vocabulary comprehension task in Mandarin tailored for preschool-aged children. The task’s design adheres to the methodology employed in Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks across 32 languages (Haman et al. in Methods for assessing multilingual children: disentangling bilingualism from Language impairment. Multilingual Matters, Bristol, 2015) and has been implemented as a computerized assessment on tablet devices. This assessment was administered to 500 Mandarin-speaking children aged 2–6 in Taiwan, with 100 participants in each age group. The results reveal a positive correlation between age and test scores, signifying an age-related increase in vocabulary proficiency. Concurrent validity was established by comparing the results with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, yielding a robust positive correlation (r = 0.733). The introduction of this Mandarin picture vocabulary measure not only furnishes an effective tool for assessing vocabulary development in preschoolers but also serves as a valuable instrument for conducting cross-linguistic research in the domain of language acquisition. The findings from the cross-linguistic lexical comprehension tasks in Mandarin unveil intriguing insights into the linguistic landscape of Mandarin-speaking children. Notably, the role of phonology and morphology in lexical comprehension appears less pronounced in Mandarin, an isolating language, when contrasted with other languages. Age of acquisition and frequency of exposure emerge as pivotal factors influencing lexical comprehension in this context.

Constructing a Cross-Linguistic Lexical Comprehension Task in Mandarin

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发表日期：

2025年

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Jenny Yi-Chun Kuo

摘要

Numerous countries possess rich histories of bi- or multilingualism, while many traditionally monolingual countries like the United States, are witnessing a growing trend toward bilingualism owing to increased immigration (August and Shanahan in J Lit Res 42:341–348, 2010). Nevertheless, most lexical assessments were initially devised for monolingual individuals, rendering them unsuitable for evaluating bilinguals accurately. The existing Mandarin vocabulary tests are either adaptations from English, such as the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Lu and Liu in Xiudingban Bibaode tuhua cihui ceyan [Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised]. Psychology Press, Taipei, 1998), or have undergone distinctive development processes compared to tests in other languages, thereby making them unsuitable for assessing bilingual individuals or supporting cross-linguistic investigations. In this paper, the author presents the development of an international and standardized picture vocabulary comprehension task in Mandarin tailored for preschool-aged children. The task’s design adheres to the methodology employed in Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks across 32 languages (Haman et al. in Methods for assessing multilingual children: disentangling bilingualism from Language impairment. Multilingual Matters, Bristol, 2015) and has been implemented as a computerized assessment on tablet devices. This assessment was administered to 500 Mandarin-speaking children aged 2–6 in Taiwan, with 100 participants in each age group. The results reveal a positive correlation between age and test scores, signifying an age-related increase in vocabulary proficiency. Concurrent validity was established by comparing the results with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, yielding a robust positive correlation (r = 0.733). The introduction of this Mandarin picture vocabulary measure not only furnishes an effective tool for assessing vocabulary development in preschoolers but also serves as a valuable instrument for conducting cross-linguistic research in the domain of language acquisition. The findings from the cross-linguistic lexical comprehension tasks in Mandarin unveil intriguing insights into the linguistic landscape of Mandarin-speaking children. Notably, the role of phonology and morphology in lexical comprehension appears less pronounced in Mandarin, an isolating language, when contrasted with other languages. Age of acquisition and frequency of exposure emerge as pivotal factors influencing lexical comprehension in this context.