Counting nouns and verbs in the input: differential frequencies, differentkinds of learning?

Previous research has focused on evaluating the nouns and verbs in parents' input through type/token ratios. This research offers an additional means of evaluating parent speech by first examining the frequencies of individua l nouns, verbs and descriptors and second examining the learning task prese nted to children. Study 1 examines 25 transcripts from the CHILDES database of English-speaking parents' speech to children at five developmental leve ls ranging from 0;11 to 2;11 in age. Study 2 examines 50 transcripts from t he CHILDES database of Mandarin-speaking caregivers' speech to children ran ging from 1;9 to 2;3 in age. The results suggest that the patterns of frequ ency for individual nouns and individual verbs are different, but that the frequency patterns for nouns and the frequency patterns for verbs are simil ar in English and Mandarin. Further, this research suggests that in both la nguages the nouns in parents' input are similarly organized: the most frequ ent nouns spoken to children tend to name solid objects that share a simila r shape. In contrast verbs' meanings in both languages tend to include more variable conceptual relations.