本研究以家長觀察、記錄的方式共蒐集、分析了45位嬰幼兒的非語言溝通方式、詞彙習得及詞彙結合的發展狀況。研究結果顯示:(1)習中文的嬰幼兒在2歲之前使用很多不同類型的非語言溝通行為與他人互動;(2)他們第一個表達性詞彙出現的時間約介於8-15 個月之間,其中又以指稱人物(如:媽媽)的詞彙佔最多;(3)幼兒前50詞彙出現的時間有早在13個月大時即已完成,亦有晚至21個月大時才累積了50個詞彙,但大部分幼兒約在17-18個月時習得前50個詞彙;其中最常出現的仍為指稱人物的詞彙,其次為動作詞彙;(5)幼兒的前50個詞彙中以名詞佔最多;(6)大部分幼兒在17-18個月大左右已可結合2個詞彙,最常出現的類型為「動作者+動作」;(7)習中文嬰幼兒在12至24個月大時出現最多的詞彙結合類型以「動作者+動作」為最多,其次為「主詞+名詞」,而第三多的則為「要+動作詞彙」。
Forty-five infants/toddlers were followed longitudinally for 8 to 30 months. Parents ofthese young children were asked to observe and record their children's nonlinguistic communication behaviors and spoken words. The infants/toddlers were found to use a variety of gestures to convey a specific message, such as a request for food, action or assistance. The young children's first words appeared as early as 8 months of age or as late as 15 months ofage. Words to refer to specific people predominated in these children's initial lexicons. Inaddition, most of the words in children's first 50 words were nouns. The appearance of two-word utterances emerged around 17 or 18 months of age. ”Agent+Action” was used mostfrequently by the toddlers.