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Difference or Delay? Syntax, Semantics, and Verb Vocabulary Development in Typically Developing and Late-talking Toddlers

ABSTRACT While semantic and syntactic properties of verb meaning can impact the success of verb learning at a single age, developmental changes in how these factors influence acquisition are largely unexplored. We ask whether the impact of syntactic and semantic properties on verb vocabulary development varies with age and language ability for toddlers aged 16 to 30 months in a large sample (N = 5520, N Late Talkers = 821; N Typically Developing = 4699, cutoff = 15th percentile) of vocabulary checklist data from the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (MBCDI). Verbs from the MBCDI were coded for their syntactic and semantic properties, including manner/result meanings, durative/punctual events, and syntactic complexity. Both late talkers and typically developing children were less likely to produce syntactically complex verbs at younger ages as compared to older ages. Group differences emerged for manner/result: Typically developing children were more likely to produce manner verbs at all ages, but late talkers were more likely to produce result verbs. Regardless of group, children who produced more manner versus result verbs also had larger verb vocabulary sizes overall. These results suggest that late talkers and typically developing toddlers differ in how they build their verb vocabularies.