Spontaneous Lexical Overlap in Early Conversations: Automated Sequential Coding of Parents and Toddlers
Emily K Harrington1, Pamela A Hadley1, Matthew Rispoli1
1Department of Speech and Hearing Science, https://ror.org/047426m28University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA.
Journal of Child Language
|September 17, 2025
Summary
This study introduces CHIPUTIL, an automated tool for analyzing parent-child conversations. It found that children
Area of Science:
- Child language acquisition
- Developmental psychology
- Computational linguistics
Background:
- Parent-child interaction is crucial for language development.
- Lexical overlap, or word repetition, is a key feature of early conversations.
- Automated tools can aid in analyzing complex linguistic data.
Purpose of the Study:
- To pilot CHIPUTIL, an automated tool for analyzing sequential lexical overlap in parent-child conversations.
- To investigate the relationship between child lexical overlap and parent imitations/expansions.
- To understand the dynamics of lexical overlap in early language development.
Main Methods:
- Utilized CHIPUTIL, an automated tool within the CLAN software.
- Analyzed sequential lexical overlap in 44 parent-child dyads (child age M=1;9).
- Examined associations between child overlap and parent imitations/expansions.
Main Results:
- Child spontaneous lexical overlap was positively associated with parent imitations and expansions.
- Children were over twice as likely to use lexical overlap following parent imitations or expansions.
- Findings highlight the role of parental input in eliciting child lexical overlap.
Conclusions:
- Automated coding with CHIPUTIL offers efficient analysis of conversational data.
- Parental imitations and expansions appear to facilitate child lexical overlap.
- Lexical overlap is a significant mechanism in early conversational turn-taking and language development.
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