The process of determining the average number of morphemes or words a child produces in an utterance is a fundamental measure in language development analysis. For instance, if a child produces three utterances: “Dog run,” “Mommy eat cookie,” and “Big car go fast,” and these utterances contain 2, 4, and 4 words respectively, the average is calculated by summing the words (2+4+4 = 10) and dividing by the number of utterances (3), resulting in an average of 3.33 words per utterance.
This metric provides valuable insights into a child’s linguistic maturity and complexity. It serves as a benchmark for tracking progress in language acquisition and identifying potential developmental delays. Historically, this measure has been a cornerstone of language assessment, offering a relatively simple yet effective way to gauge a child’s expressive language skills across different ages and stages.
