{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T12:57:24Z","timestamp":1787317044362,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":67,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,12]],"date-time":"2024-07-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1720742400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Developmental Science"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:label\/>\n                    <jats:p>Languages vary in their complexity; caregivers vary in the way they structure their communicative interactions with children; and boys and girls can differ in their language skills. Using a multilevel modelling approach, we explored how these factors influence the path of language acquisition for young children growing up around the world (mean age 2\u2010years 9\u2010months; 56 girls). Across 43 different sites, we analysed 103 mother\u2013child pairs who spoke 3,170,633 utterances, 16,209,659 morphemes, divided across 20 different languages: Afrikaans, Catalan, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, English, Farsi, French, German, Hebrew, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. Using mean length of utterance (MLU) as a measure of language complexity and developmental skill, we found that variation in children's MLU was significantly explained by (a) between\u2010language differences; namely the rate of child MLU growth was attuned to the complexity of their mother tongue, and (b) between\u2010mother differences; namely mothers who used higher MLUs tended to have children with higher MLUs, regardless of which language they were learning and especially in the very young (&lt;2.5 years\u2010old). Controlling for family and language environment, we found no evidence of MLU sex differences in child speech nor in the speech addressed to boys and girls. By modelling language as a multilevel structure with cross\u2010cultural variation, we were able to disentangle those factors that make children's pathway to language different and those that make it alike.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Research Highlights<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:list list-type=\"bullet\">\n                        <jats:list-item>\n                          <jats:p>The speech of 103 mother\u2013child pairs from 20 different languages showed large variation in the path of early language development.<\/jats:p>\n                        <\/jats:list-item>\n                        <jats:list-item>\n                          <jats:p>Language, family, but not the sex of the child, accounted for a significant proportion of individual differences in child speech, especially in the very young.<\/jats:p>\n                        <\/jats:list-item>\n                        <jats:list-item>\n                          <jats:p>The rate at which children learned language was attuned to the complexity of their mother tongue, with steeper trajectories for more complex language.<\/jats:p>\n                        <\/jats:list-item>\n                        <jats:list-item>\n                          <jats:p>Results demonstrate the relative influence of culture, family, and sex in shaping the path of language acquisition for different children.<\/jats:p>\n                        <\/jats:list-item>\n                      <\/jats:list>\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/desc.13547","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,12]],"date-time":"2024-07-12T04:00:09Z","timestamp":1720756809000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["The effects of family, culture and sex on linguistic development across 20 languages"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8346-0616","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paul","family":"Ibbotson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport The Open University  Milton Keynes UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6659-6885","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"William J.","family":"Browne","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Multilevel Modelling, School of Education University of Bristol  Bristol UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_8_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511975073"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.evolhumbehav.2020.06.006"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/a0023819"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0305000919000540"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2300671120"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2022.09.015"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_8_1","first-page":"793","volume-title":"Handbook of child psychology: Theoretical models of human development","author":"Bronfenbrenner U.","year":"2006"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4159\/harvard.9780674732469"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41562\u2010021\u201001143\u20103"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511750526"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9781139096768"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_2_8_13_1","first-page":"27","article-title":"What do complexity measures measure? Correlating and validating corpus\u2010based measures of morphological complexity\"","volume":"9","author":"\u00c7a\u011fr\u0131 C.","year":"2023","journal-title":"Linguistics Vanguard"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1207\/s15516709cog2706_2"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/1166214"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_16_1","unstructured":"Charlton C. Rasbash J. Browne W. J. Healy M. &Cameron B.(2022).MLwiN Version 3.06.Centre for multilevel modelling University of Bristol."},{"key":"e_1_2_8_17_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"Disentangling genetic and environmental influences on early language development: The interplay of genetic propensity for negative emotionality and surgency, and parenting behavior effects on early language skills in an adoption study","author":"Cheung R. 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