The Emergence and Development of Palestinian Arabic Lexicon and Morphosyntax From 18 to 36 Months: A Communicative Development Inventory Study

What is it about?

This study examines lexical and grammatical development in Palestinian Arabic (PA) using the PA adaptation of the MB-CDI. Data from 1399 parents of children aged 18-36 months demonstrated the lexical and morphosyntactic growth with age, albeit with individual variability. The study validated the PA-CDI, generated growth curves, and showed that PA lexical development follows patterns seen in other languages, while morphosyntactic development exhibited early emergence of verbal inflectional morphology. Age of word combination, health problems, and parental concerns were found to predict language development.

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Why is it important?

The findings suggest the PA-CDI's potential as an assessment tool for PA-speaking children in Israel and beyond, with growth curves potentially aiding in identifying children at risk for Developmental Language Disorder.