Determining the core vocabulary of Setswana-speaking Grade R learners as used during school activities

Abstract

Background: When designing AAC systems for children who have not yet developed conventional literacy skills, a process of vocabulary selection is employed. Core vocabulary is a list of words used frequently by particular age group in spontaneous conversation. Core vocabulary lists are one of the useful lists consulted when selecting vocabulary for AAC systems. South Africa is a multilingual country having 11 official languages and only three studies have explored the core vocabularies of the following South African languages: Afrikaans, isiZulu and Sepedi. Due to the uniqueness of languages, the core vocabulary list of a language cannot simply be translated to another language for AAC use because linguistic meaning and will be lost. This study was therefore conducted to determine the core vocabulary of Setswana speaking Grade R learners, which then can be added to the pool of multilingual vocabularies available for use by individuals in need of AAC.

Methods: Language samples of six preschool children recruited from three different schools were collected during regular school activities through recordings. Covid-19 regulations were adhered to at all times during collection of data. Body worn audio recording devices were used to record the spontaneous speech of preschool children and was then transcribed, coded and analyzed. The data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel™.

Results: From a composite script of 18,099 intelligible words, a total of 1,112 different words were identified. The type token ratio of this sample was 0.06. An analysis was conducted on these number of different words used, how frequently used the words were and how commonly used the words were among the participants. A total of 249 core words and 863 fringe words were identified.

Conclusions: The findings of this study were comparable and consistent with those found in other core vocabulary studies of other languages, in that the Setswana core vocabulary consisted of a smaller proportion of words which were used more frequently and represented a large portion of the composite sample. The Setswana core vocabulary list used in this study can be consulted and used as a resource during vocabulary selection of designing an AAC system for children with Setswana language backgrounds.