Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät :: Universität zu Köln

FBZ-UK

Language Use of Students with Cognitive Disabilities

(Boenisch, 2014)

The aim of this study was to identify the most frequently words used by German students (grade 2-10) with the diagnosis ‘cognitive disabilitiy'.

Methods: Speech samples were collected from 44 students during different activities at school (i.e. during lessons, meal breaks, leisure time, on field trips). The samples were transcribed verbatim and analyzed with Lingofox© to determine the frequency of the words (basic forms) in the sample. The words were also classified according to the word classes.

Findings: Analyses of the 125.454 words reveal that

(1) the most frequently used words are mostly grammatical words like I, forms of the verb be, the, you, not, a, and, what.

(2) the top 100 words (listed below) account for more than 70% of the total words communicated.

The results provide a helpful resource for selecting, prioritizing and organizing vocabulary on AAC systems but also for language learning. This data and these insights were the start of a wide range of application projects on the topic of core vocabulary and AAC. Click here for more information.

For more information see:
Boenisch, J. (2014): Kernvokabular im Kindes- und Jugendalter: Vergleichsstudie zum Sprachgebrauch von Schülern/-innen mit und ohne geistige Behinderung und Konsequenzen für die UK-Förderung. In: uk & forschung_3, Beilage von Unterstützte Kommunikation, p. 4-23.

Top 100 from the language use project with children with cognitive disabilities
(N=44, total words=125.454; see Boenisch 2014)

Rank	Word	Translation
1	ich	I
2	sein	be
3	das	the
4	ja	yes
5	haben	have
6	die	the
7	du	you
8	mal	just
9	nicht	not
10	was	what
11	der	the
12	ein	a
12	nein	no
14	wir	we
15	da	there
16	und	and
17	so	so
18	hier	here
19	auch	also, too
20	können	can
21	machen	make
22	jetzt	now
23	gucken	watch
23	kommen	come
25	dann	then
26	müssen	have to
27	sagen	say
28	noch	yet
29	aber	but
30	gehen	go
31	doch	but
32	es	it
33	mein	my
34	hallo	hello
35	oh	oh
36	wollen	want
37	den	the
38	in	in
39	mit	with
40	mir	me
41	dürfen	may
42	wie	as, how
43	okay	okay
44	kein	no, none
45	ey	ey
46	zu	to, closed
47	gut	good
48	Frau	woman, Ms.
49	denn	because
50	auf	on, open
51	ne	right?, shortform of 'one'
51	schon	already
53	bitte	please, you're welcome
54	wo	where
55	mich	me, myself
56	alle	all
57	oder	or
58	man	one
59	wieder	back, again
60	wissen	know
61	dein	your
62	zwei	two
63	wenn	when
64	hören	hear
65	dich	you, yorself
66	ach	oh
67	warten	wait
68	geben	give
69	ihr	her, their
70	dir	you
71	gleich	equal, right now
72	lassen	let
73	mögen	like
74	boah	boah
74	nur	only
76	von	of, from
77	ganz	really
78	eins	one
79	immer	always
80	heute	today
80	sollen	must
82	mehr	more
83	bei	at
83	Mikrofon*	microphone*
85	sie	she, they
86	dass	that
87	für	for
88	ah	ah
89	wer	who
90	drei	three
91	dem	the
92	essen	eat
93	aufhören	stop
94	warum	why
95	genau	exactly
96	uns	us
97	nichts	nothing
97	sehen	see
97	viel	much
100	dies	this

*This word ranks unusually high here because the children talked about their microphones.