EFFET DU GENRE SUR LES PREMIÈRES PRODUCTIONS LEXICALES D’ENFANTS ARABOPHONES : UNE ÉTUDE LONGITUDINALE

The aim of this longitudinal study is to test the effect of gender on infants’ first lexical productions.6Tunisan Arabic-speaking children (3girls and 3boys) were recorded at home for one hour every tow weeks while spontaneously interacting with their mothers. The recordings took place from the onset of word production until 3months after lexical spurt. The number of different words produced at 4developmental stages (between 12and 27months) was extracted from the transcripts (realized using Phon©). Then we measured the number of different words produced across time. Our preliminary results show a sex difference in vocabulary sizebetween girls and boys with a benefit for girls, which increases with time. Some biological and cultural explanations are given to explain these differences