The relationship between age and mean length of utterance in acquisition of Turkish

Ege P., Acarlar F., Guleryuz F.

TURK PSIKOLOJI DERGISI, vol.13, no.41, pp.19-33, 1998 (SSCI) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 13 Issue: 41
  • Publication Date: 1998
  • Journal Name: TURK PSIKOLOJI DERGISI
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)
  • Page Numbers: pp.19-33
  • Keywords: mean length of utterance, morphemes, language development, acquisition of Turkish, MORPHEMES, CHILDREN
  • Ankara University Affiliated: No

Abstract

In English and other languages, the relationship between age and mean length of utterance (MLU) has been well-established and MLU has long been used as an index of grammatical development. This study examined the age-MLU relationship in 95 children between the ages of 17-59 months acquiring Turkish as a native language and found a strong correlation of r = .83 between the two factors. Guidelines for calculating MLU using Turkish data and tables to be used in predicting age from MLU and MLU from age have been provided. Benefits and shortcomings of the process have been discussed.