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The study aims to explore how different indicators of language environment diversity affect vocabulary in early childhood.

February 2, 2026Open Access

Diversity in monolingual and multilingual communicative environments and its relation to vocabulary in early childhood

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Examines vocabulary differences in children using diverse language environments, suggesting implications for multilingual development.

The study aims to explore how different indicators of language environment diversity affect vocabulary in early childhood.
Examined three diversity indicators: language entropy, context entropy, and linguistic distance.
Compared vocabulary sizes between 4- to 5-year-old monolingual and multilingual children.
Analyzed the relationship between vocabulary and diversity indicators using a sample of 257 children.
Monolingual children exhibited significantly greater vocabulary in one language compared to multilinguals.
Multilinguals outperformed monolinguals in conceptual vocabulary.
Vocabulary size in multilinguals showed a quadratic relationship with language and context entropy, peaking before declining at higher levels.
Greater linguistic distances generally corresponded with larger dominant vocabularies, but higher distances within that group linked to smaller vocabularies.

Aalders et al. (2025) studied this question.

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