The lifespan development of cognate guessing skills in an unknown related language

Author: Jan Vanhove, Raphael Berthele · Type: academic · Status: draft · URL: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/iral-2015-0001/html

Licence: IRAL 53(1), 1-38, 2015 (De Gruyter); paywalled full text, abstract quotable; data and R code openly available on figshare

Summary

An empirical receptive-multilingualism study: 159 German-speaking Swiss participants aged 10 to 86 translated 45 written and 45 spoken Swedish words that have German, English, or French cognates, alongside tests of vocabulary, fluid intelligence, and working memory. Crystallized linguistic knowledge (vocabulary size, additional languages) was the strongest predictor of written cognate guessing, while fluid intelligence mattered most for spoken items; written-modality guessing did not decline with age. This is direct evidence that the core skill Immersive trains, inferring meaning from cognates in a related written language, is real, measurable, and favors adults with rich existing vocabularies.

Insights

• In a sample of 159 people aged 10-86, crystallized linguistic knowledge (existing vocabulary and languages) was the strongest predictor of successfully guessing written cognates in an unknown related language. (medium, draft) receptive multilingualism vocabulary adult learners

  Paraphrase of abstract: crystallized knowledge was the stronger predictor of written cognate guessing success, whereas fluid intelligence was most important in the spoken modality. — Abstract

• Written cognate-guessing ability holds up across adulthood (unlike spoken-modality guessing, which declines after midlife), so a reading-first intercomprehension product suits older adult learners. (medium, draft) receptive multilingualism adult learners reading

  Paraphrase: spoken-modality cognate guessing remained stable between ages 20-50 and then declined, a trend the authors attribute to reliance on fluid intelligence; written guessing tracked crystallized resources instead. — Abstract and discussion