Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31564759›Full record

ArticleFirst language2019

Differences in sentence complexity in the text of children's picture books and child-directed speech.

Jessica L Montag

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in First language, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
16citing papers in PubMed
7.9field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

16 citing papers in PubMed, 90 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
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  5. Overlooked Input for Word Learning: Examining the Role of Attention on Non-Target Objects During Object Labeling.IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning. IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning · 2025
    Article
  6. Information Sources for Word Meaning in Children's Picture Books: A Human Simulation Paradigm Study.Journal of cognition and development : official journal of the Cognitive Development Society · 2025
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Review
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  15. Bilingual Language Input to Infants in Bolivia and the United States.Infancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant Studies
    Article
  16. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Jessica L MontagUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9446-1016
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · US

Funding

Measurement and analysis of early language environmentsR03HD096157 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN · PI MONTAG, JESSICA L · 2018 to 2019
$159k
NICHD NIH HHS R03 HD096157
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Reading picture books to pre-literate children is associated with improved language outcomes, but the causal pathways of this relationship are not well understood. The present analyses focus on several syntactic differences between the text of children's picture books and typical child-directed speech, with the aim of understanding ways in which picture book text may systematically differ from typical child-directed speech. The analyses show that picture books contain more rare and complex sentence types, including passive sentences and sentences containing relative clauses, than does child-directed speech. These differences in the patterns of language contained in picture books and typical child-directed speech suggest that one important means by which picture book reading may come to be associated with improved language outcomes is by providing children with types of complex language that might be otherwise rare in their input.

Indexed as

Corpus analysislanguage developmentpassivespicture booksrelative clauses

Identifiers

PMID31564759
PMCPMC6764450
OpenAlexW2945136488

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.