Calculating Mean Length of Utterance for Eastern Canadian Inuktitut

Autor/inn/en	Allen, Shanley E. M.; Dench, Catherine
Titel	Calculating Mean Length of Utterance for Eastern Canadian Inuktitut
Quelle	In: First Language, 35 (2015) 4-5, S.377-406 (30 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0142-7237
DOI	10.1177/0142723715596648
Schlagwörter	Eskimo Aleut Languages; Foreign Countries; Language Acquisition; Native Language; Structural Analysis (Linguistics); Syllables; Speech; Young Children; Narration; Language Impairments; Evaluation Methods; Infants; Toddlers; Morphemes; Adults; Canada + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb; Structural analysis; Strukturanalyse; Silbe; Speaking; Sprechen; Frühe Kindheit; Speech disorder; Speech disorders; Speech disabilities; Speech disability; Speech handicap; Speech handicaps; Speech impairment; Speech impairments; Language handicaps; Sprachbehinderung; Infant; Toddler; Toddlers; Kleinkind; Infants; Morphem; Kanada
Abstract	Although virtually all Inuit children in eastern Arctic Canada learn Inuktitut as their native language, there is a critical lack of tools to assess their level of language ability. This article investigates how mean length of utterance (MLU), a widely-used assessment measure in English and other languages, can be best applied in Inuktitut. The authors seek a measure that is suitable for the structural characteristics of Inuktitut as well as the practical realities of language assessment in the Inuit context. They compare five measures of mean length of utterance/word as well as five measures of longest utterance/word using three sets of data: spontaneous speech from eight children aged 1;8-3;6, frog story narratives from 12 older children and 6 adults, and spontaneous speech from one 5-year-old with specific language impairment and an age-matched peer. The authors conclude that mean length of word in syllables is the measure that provides the best balance of reliably assessing language level while also suiting Inuktitut structure and being relatively easy to calculate. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01