First Words and Expressive Vocabulary Growth in Toddlers: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: The early years of life are critical for language acquisition, with toddlerhood marking a pivotal period for vocabulary expansion. Early words offer valuable insight into children’s cognitive, linguistic, and social development, yet evidence from Malaysian populations remains limited. This study aims to: (i) identify the first words produced by toddlers aged 12-35 months; (ii) analyse the word classes represented in these first words; (iii) determine the expressive vocabulary size of the toddlers; and (iv) determine the effect of age group on early vocabulary size in toddlers.  Method: A cross-sectional survey design was employed involving 40 caregivers of typically developing toddlers in Kuantan, Malaysia. Data were collected via a questionnaire comprising demographic information and six items assessing expressive vocabulary, including the first words, the first 10 words, and the estimated total vocabulary size. Descriptive statistics summarised lexical content, and the Mann–Whitney U test compared vocabulary size across age groups. Result: Toddlers’ first words were predominantly nouns (90%), especially parental terms such as mama and ayah. Analysis of the first 10 words showed a similar dominance of nouns (65.1%), followed by verbs (18.6%) and social terms (5.1%). Vocabulary size differed significantly by age, with younger toddlers clustered in the <10 and 10-49-word ranges, and older toddlers demonstrating broader vocabularies, some exceeding 500 words. Conclusion: The findings indicate that Malaysian toddlers’ early lexicons mirror cross-linguistic trends, with a strong bias towards nouns. However, vocabulary growth appeared to be slower than established norms, possibly due to the small sample size. These results underscore the need for culturally sensitive benchmarks.