Vocabulary Development

Typical Vocabulary Development

One of the features of language development that militates for acceptance of biological theories is the consistency of vocabulary development in children. Children tend to have vocabularies of similar size and the same ages (although, girls, as a group, have a larger vocabulary than boys at any age in childhood). Below are typical vocabulary sizes at various ages. Note the rapid increase in vocabulary between 1 and 3 years of age. Also, note that by age six, a child has a fairly large vocabulary.

Age		Words
10 Months		First word
12 Months		3 words
18 Months		20 words
2 Years		250 words
3 Years		900 words
4 Years		1500 words
5 Years		2000 words
6 Years		2500 words

What does the word below mean?

HOYDEN

Do you know what it means? It is a legitimate English word with three meanings. Odds are no one in your class will know it. Look it up! I learned it just before taking the GRE. Added some points to my verbal score. Here are some definitions:

From Webster's http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm

• Main Entry: hoy·den
  • Pronunciation: 'hoi-d&n
  • Function: noun
  • Etymology: perhaps from obs Dutch heiden country lout, from Middle Dutch, heathen; akin to Old English h[AE]then heathen
  • Date: 1676
  • : a girl or woman of saucy, boisterous, or carefree behavior
  • - hoy·den·ish /-ish/ adjective

From Dictionary.com http://www.dictionary.com/

• hoyden adj : used of boisterous girls [syn: hoyden(a), hoydenish, tomboyish] n : a girl who behaves in a boyish manner [syn: tomboy, romp]

  Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University

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