Socioeconomic status differences in the linguistic environment: a study with Spanish-speaking populations in Argentina

Abstract

Evidence shows individual variation in lexical acquisition as a function of socioeconomic status and linguistic input. Research has primarily involved English-speaking populations and considered only mothers’ child-directed speech. This study analyzes the effects of socioeconomic status on quantitative and qualitative properties of linguistic input–child-directed and overheard–to Argentinean children, an understudied population. The data consists of 54 hours of audio recording during home observations of 27 Spanish-learning infants (8–18 months old) from low- and middle-socioeconomic households. Results show the different impact of socioeconomic status on quantitative and qualitative input properties according to the definition of input (child-directed and overheard input from all participants, child-directed from the primary caregiver) adopted in this study.