Author： Durán Pilar
Publisher： Oxford University Press
ISSN： 0142-6001
Source： Applied Linguistics, Vol.25, Iss.2, 2004-06, pp. : 220-242
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Abstract
This article discusses issues in measuring lexical diversity, before outlining an approach based on mathematical modelling that produces a measure, D</i>, designed to address these problems. The procedure for obtaining values for D</i> directly from transcripts using software (vocd</i>) is introduced, and then applied to thirty-two children from the Bristol Study of Language Development (Wells 1985) at ten different ages. A significant developmental trend is shown for D</i> and an indication is given of the average scores and ranges to be expected between the ages of 18 and 42 months and at 5 years for these L1 English speakers. The meaning attributable to further ranges of values for D</i> is illustrated by analysing the lexical diversity of academic writing, and its wider application is demonstrated with examples from specific language impairment, morphological development, and foreign/second language learning.
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