Presentation A Corpus-driven Study on the Use of Multiword Units (MWUs) in Parental and Child Speech more

Multiword units (MWUs), recurrent word combinations frequently used in language, support fluent language production (Pawley & Syder, 1983) and play a crucial role in children’s language development (e.g., Arnon et al., 2017; Skarabela et al., 2021). Adopting a corpus-driven approach, this study investigates the distribution of high-frequency single words and MWUs in parental and child speech, drawing on the Warren Corpus (Warren-Leubecker, 1982, 1984) from CHILDES. The dataset comprises home interactions involving children (mean age of 64.7 months) and their parents. High-frequency single words and two-, three-, and four-word MWUs were extracted and compared. The results revealed that (1) in terms of the high-frequency single words, the strongest correspondence is found in pronoun use, and (2) a higher degree of overlap is observed in two-word MWUs, whereas little or no correspondence is found in three- and four-word MWUs. Overall, the correspondence decreases as the length of MWUs increases. From a usage-based perspective, children’s emerging MWU production is associated with shorter, high-frequency patterns in the input, while longer formulaic sequences develop more gradually. These findings underscore the importance of examining MWUs of different lengths and suggest the pedagogical value of shorter, high-frequency MWUs for early-stage learners in both first and additional language contexts.