Linguistics Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Linguistics, including details on human language, phonetics, syntax, phonology.

Linguistic features of Japanese twins at 3 or 4 years of age evaluated by Illinois test of psycholinguistic abilities.

Kobayashi Y, Hayakawa K, Hattori R, Ito M, Kato K, Hayashi C, Mikami H

Department of Health Promotion Science, Faculty of Health Science Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. kobayoko.0626@car.ocn.ne.jp

In general, twins have delayed language development early in childhood compared with singletons. The purpose of this study was to clarify the overall linguistic features of twins. A Japanese version of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA) was administered in 24 twin pairs (aged 3 to 4 years) at their own homes. The overall language abilities of the twins were in the normal range (based on ITPA normative data: mean scale score 36.0 +/- 6.0 points), and for the ITPA subtests only, Auditory Reception fell within the range of language disorder (mean scale score 24.9 +/- 5.1 points). The findings suggest that in 3- to 4-year-old Japanese twins, overall language abilities are not delayed. However, there may be specific difficulties with auditory reception skills.

Published 13 April 2006 in Twin Res Hum Genet, 9(2): 272-8.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Linguistics Research Today. All Rights Reserved.