Ratunku! or Just Tunku! Evidence for the Reliability and Concurrent Validity of the Language Use Inventory-Polish

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Linguistics
• Psychometrics

Background:

• No existing tool assesses early pragmatic development in Polish children.
• Need for cross-cultural research in child language development.
• Importance of early screening for pragmatic language skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• Adapt the Language Use Inventory (LUI) for Polish-speaking children (18-47 months).
• Establish LUI-Polish reliability, developmental sensitivity, and concurrent validity.
• Enable cross-cultural comparisons and pragmatic development screening.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal online parent-report survey (LUI-Polish) at 20, 32, and 44 months.
• Administered supplementary Polish language development measures.
• Assessed spontaneous speech and vocabulary at specific child ages.

Main Results:

• LUI-Polish demonstrated high internal consistency across all parts (Gestures, Words, Sentences).
• Observed expected developmental trajectories, showing increased vocabulary and sentence use with age.
• Concurrent validity confirmed through significant correlations with other language measures.

Conclusions:

• The LUI-Polish is a reliable and valid tool for assessing early pragmatic development in Polish children.
• The adaptation supports cross-cultural research and clinical screening.
• The study confirmed expected developmental patterns in pragmatic language skills for Polish children.