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Abstract(s)
A Extensão Média do Enunciado (EME) é uma medida de análise de amostras de
discurso espontâneo que desde há vários anos tem sido estudada e aplicada nos mais diversos
estudos noutras línguas. Através dela tem sido possível auxiliar terapeutas e linguistas na
avaliação de perturbações de linguagem, orientar planos de intervenção, estudar o
desenvolvimento da linguagem de crianças para uma determinada língua e o desenvolvimento
de crianças bilingues. Para o Português Europeu ainda não são conhecidos valores que
permitam utilizar esta medida, pelo que se desenvolveu um projeto que envolve o estudo de
crianças dos quatro aos cinco anos e cinco meses.
A presente dissertação tem como principal objectivo a obtenção do valor padrão da
EME em palavras (EME-p) de crianças de 4;00 a 4;05 anos de idade. Pretende-se, ainda,
perceber se estes valores são influenciados pelo género das crianças e pelo nível de
escolaridade dos seus pais.
Participaram no estudo 30 crianças residentes e a frequentar jardins de infância da área
da grande Lisboa, com desenvolvimento típico da linguagem, cujo discurso foi gravado (um
mínimo de 100 enunciados por criança), transcrito e depois analisado. A EME-p de cada
criança foi calculada, sendo depois obtida a média das 30 amostras recolhidas, sendo, desta
forma, obtido o valor médio de EME-p para esta faixa etária.
Não foram observadas diferenças significativas ao nível do género nem influência da
escolaridade dos pais.
Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) is a spontaneous language sample analysis measure that has been used for many years and applied in a number of different studies in other languages. Through this measure, speech therapists and linguistics have been able to evaluate language disorders, plan their interventions, and study children’s language development in a specific language and in bilingual children. For the European Portuguese language, values haven’t been obtained to realise if this is a good measure to be used with Portuguese children. Therefore, a project was developed to study this measure in children between the ages of 4 and 5 and a half years old. This dissertation’s main goal is the obtainment of values of MLU in words (MLUw) from 4;00 to 4;05-year-old children. It is also intended to understand if theses values are influenced by the child’s gender or its parents’ educational level. 30 children, living and attending kindergartens in the area of great Lisbon participated in this study, all presenting typical language development. Their speech samples were recorded (a minimum of 100 utterances per child), transcripted and then analysed in terms of MLUw. Each child’s individual MLUw was calculated, followed by the obtainment of an average of the 30 samples collected and thus found the mean value of MLUw for this age group. No significant differences were observed in terms of the child’s gender and the parents’ education level doesn’t seem to influence the child’s MLUW.
Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) is a spontaneous language sample analysis measure that has been used for many years and applied in a number of different studies in other languages. Through this measure, speech therapists and linguistics have been able to evaluate language disorders, plan their interventions, and study children’s language development in a specific language and in bilingual children. For the European Portuguese language, values haven’t been obtained to realise if this is a good measure to be used with Portuguese children. Therefore, a project was developed to study this measure in children between the ages of 4 and 5 and a half years old. This dissertation’s main goal is the obtainment of values of MLU in words (MLUw) from 4;00 to 4;05-year-old children. It is also intended to understand if theses values are influenced by the child’s gender or its parents’ educational level. 30 children, living and attending kindergartens in the area of great Lisbon participated in this study, all presenting typical language development. Their speech samples were recorded (a minimum of 100 utterances per child), transcripted and then analysed in terms of MLUw. Each child’s individual MLUw was calculated, followed by the obtainment of an average of the 30 samples collected and thus found the mean value of MLUw for this age group. No significant differences were observed in terms of the child’s gender and the parents’ education level doesn’t seem to influence the child’s MLUW.
Description
Keywords
Linguagem Infância Discurso EME-p Género Escolaridade Language Childhood Speech MLUw Gender Parents education