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A measure of semantic complexity among predications
M Wiener1, M Rubano, R Shilkret
1Department of Psychology, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research
|March 1, 1990
Summary
A new scale measures utterance complexity using semantic relations. Findings show differences in language complexity based on grade, socioeconomic status, and visual stimuli, though stimulus effects diminished when content was controlled.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Developmental Psychology
- Sociolinguistics
Background:
- Assessing utterance complexity is crucial for understanding language development and comprehension.
- Existing methods may not adequately capture the nuanced semantic density within spoken language.
- Socioeconomic and developmental factors can influence children's language production.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a scale for measuring utterance complexity based on semantic relations.
- To investigate how utterance complexity varies across different grade levels (4th, 6th, 8th).
- To examine the influence of socioeconomic background (working-class vs. middle-class) on semantic density.
- To compare the impact of different visual stimuli on eliciting language samples of varying complexity.
Main Methods:
- Developed a 10-category scale of semantic relations to quantify utterance complexity.
- Applied the scale to language samples from three groups of children across different grades.
- Analyzed interjudge reliability of the scale across multiple subject samples.
- Compared semantic density of utterances elicited by various visual stimuli, controlling for content and exposure in a subset of the analysis.
Main Results:
- The developed scale demonstrated acceptable interjudge reliability.
- Significant differences in semantic density were observed based on grade level.
- Children from working-class neighborhoods exhibited different utterance complexity compared to middle-class peers.
- Visual stimuli significantly impacted utterance complexity, but this effect was reduced when stimuli were equated for content and exposure.
Conclusions:
- The semantic relation scale effectively measures utterance complexity and density.
- Language complexity is influenced by a combination of developmental stage, socioeconomic background, and elicitation methods.
- The scale holds potential for assessing comprehension difficulty in both spoken and written language.