ages of 4;0 and 9;11 and reported that children from a low socio-economic background obtained low scores overall. This is supported by Southwood and White (2020) who set out to investigate the fast mapping of verbs in Afrikaans-speaking children. Although their study included children with a language impairment, they also concluded that children from low socio-economic backgrounds typically have smaller vocabularies and are often mistaken for having a language impairment (Southwood & White, 2020). These findings provide evidence that socio-economic status could be a factor that impacts the language development of young Afrikaans-speaking children above the age of 4;0 (Southwood & White, 2020).
Although previous research has indicated that maternal education could predict or impact language development (Southwood, 2013), Southwood et al. (2021) found no significant correlations between this factor and vocabulary size for SAE-speaking and Afrikaans-speaking participants. For maternal education, the findings were accounted for by reporting that maternal education itself may not have a direct impact on the language abilities of young children, but instead that the maternal level of education impacts the amount and the quality of the input that the child receives (Southwood et al., 2021). It might also be accounted for if the mother is not the primary caregiver, in which case the level of education of the primary caregiver will be more relevant (Southwood et al., 2021). For Afrikaans-speaking children above the age of 4;0, a study conducted by Southwood (2013) found significant correlations between maternal level of education and the overall scores of participants in the syntax, pragmatics and semantic domains. This suggests that maternal level of education could have an impact on the language development of young Afrikaans-speaking children above the age of 4;0 (Southwood, 2013). Although maternal education was not found to be a major influencer, the mothers of young Afrikaans-speaking children were found to play an important role in the general interaction with their children and tended to incorporate elements which encourage language development (Messerschmidt et al., 2008). This is important to consider as the current research study is based on the South African contexts and participants are likely to be from differing educational backgrounds.
Factors that were found to predict vocabulary size for SAE-speaking and Afrikaans- speaking children included age, sex and geographic area (Southwood et al., 2021). Age was found to be the strongest predictor – as would be expected – and the findings of the Southwood et al. (2021) study adds to a body of evidence that vocabulary size increases with age.
Contrastingly, Haman et al. (2017) studied noun and verb knowledge in monolingual Afrikaans-speaking children between the ages of 3;6 and 4;0, most of whom have a mid to high
socio-economic background, and found that age was not a predictor of vocabulary size. The sample size of the study was smaller than that of Southwood et al. (2021), which could account for this finding, in addition to the narrow age range in the Haman et al. (2017) study. This is an important consideration for the current research study as, according to the above findings, an age effect is anticipated. Furthermore, the lexical development of young children has been proven to be influenced by the quantity and quality of language input received by the child (Messerschmidt et al., 2008), although it has been suggested that this influences vocabulary to a lesser extent than their geographic location (Southwood et al., 2021).
Building on the factors which could impact language development of SAE-speaking children, the environment in which SAE-speaking children grow up could impact the acquisition of vocabulary items specifically. In 2013, Gonallisan et al. (2013) investigated vocabulary used by South African toddlers at the age of 2;0. Findings indicated that children who are frequently in an educational environment, such as a pre-school, may acquire certain vocabulary items earlier than those who are not (Gonallisan et al., 2013). This could be because these environments provide children with opportunities to interact and engage with others, thereby increasing the quantity and diversity of the language input they receive. However, this needs to be investigated further due to limited research available pertaining to the environment as an influencing factor on the language acquisition of young SAE-speaking children.
Furthermore, the presence of a primary male caregiver could have an impact on the language abilities of young Afrikaans-speaking children. In 2010, Southwood conducted a research study which aimed to explore the effect that the presence of a primary male caregiver has on children’s language skills. Findings from this study suggested that the absence of a primary male caregiver is associated with lower language skills and, thus, difficulties with later literacy skills. In contrast, Southwood (2013) set out to investigate the role of socio-economic status on the performance of children between the ages of 4;0 and 9;11 on a language assessment. The difference between scores obtained by participants with and without a primary male giver was not statistically significant, suggesting that the presence of a primary male caregiver may not have an impact on the language development of young children (Southwood, 2013).
A summary of the research related to these factors is presented in table 3 below.
Table 3. A review of the literature available on factors affecting the language acquisition of SAE and Afrikaans
Southwood et al. (2021)
Lexical 1;4–3;6 SAE: 105 Afrikaans:110
• Maternal level of education did not correlate with vocabulary scores.
• Socio-economic status did not correlate with vocabulary scores.
• Predict overall vocabulary size in order of ranking from most to least: age, sex, geographic area.
Messerschmidt et al. (2008)
Lexical:
language development
1;6–2;4 Overall: 6 Afrikaans: 4
• Adults, especially mothers, played an important role in the interaction with their children.
• Afrikaans-speaking mothers, and sometimes fathers, were raising the level of language development and scaffolding in a variety of ways and on different language levels.
Gonallisan, Bornman and Harty (2013)
Lexical 2;0 40 • Growing up in a learning
environment could have an impact on vocabulary development.
Potgieter and Southwood (2016)
Lexical development
4;0 Afrikaans: 11 • Participants from low socio- economic backgrounds acquire nouns much later than participants from mid-socio-economic backgrounds, and verbs at around the same time.
Southwood (2010)
Lexical 4;0–9;0 342 • Children who grow up without a primary male caregiver have less well-developed language skills and are thus more likely to experience problems acquiring reading and writing skills.
Southwood (2013)
Lexical 4;0–9;11 231 • Positive correlation between maternal level of education and overall scores.
• No significant difference between participants with and without a primary male caregiver.