Children’s language status, not language, predicts vocabulary size : a cross-linguistic study of Croatian and Slovenian children using the CDI-III

Kuvač Kraljević, Jelena (author), Šmit Brleković, Lidija (author), Penko, Barbara (author), Kogovšek, Damjana (author)

One of the most prominent characteristics of developmental language disorder (DLD) is limited vocabulary sizeand poor vocabulary composition. Through a cross-linguistic comparison of vocabulary breadth based on the CDI-III, we aimed to determine whether language and children’s language status can affect the vocabulary of 41- to 48-month old children with typical language development (TLD) and those with DLD. Children with DLD were observed to have a smaller vocabulary than children with TLD, even in semantic categories containing words typically acquired at earlier stages of language development.Therefore, it is not language itself that contributes to differences between groups, but rather the children’s language status, i.e., the presence of a language disorder (TLD vs DLD).

• Language: English
• Keywords: vocabulary development, developmental language disorder, Communicative Development Inventory – III, Croatian, Slovenian
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: PEF - Faculty of Education
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 58-64
• Numbering: Vol. 62, Special iss.
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-181919
• UDC: 376.1-056.34
• ISSN on article: 1848-7734
• DOI: 10.31299/hrri.62.si.9
• COBISS.SI-ID: 275724803

Copyright

Licenca CC BY-NC 4.0 je navedena na pristajalni strani članka (https://hrcak.srce.hr/346301) in na spletni strani s podatki o reviji (https://hrcak.srce.hr/hrzri). (Datum opombe: 20. 4. 2026)

• Publication date in RUL: 20.04.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Hrvatska revija za rehabilitacijska istraživanja
• Shortened title: Hrvat. rev. rehabil. istraž.
• Publisher: Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Edukacijsko-rehabilitacijski fakultet
• ISSN: 1848-7734
• COBISS.SI-ID: 519535129

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
• Description: A creative commons license that bans commercial use, but the users don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: razvoj besednega zaklada, jezikovne motnje, slovenščina, hrvaščina, jezik (jezikoslovje), vzgoja in izobraževanje oseb s posebnimi potrebami