The Relationship between Infant's Language and Play

1세 영아의 언어와 놀이의 관계

This study explored the relationship between language and play of 42 infants(21 boys and 21 girls) from 13 months to 23 months old and examined how their maternal language and play were related to the infants' language and play. The play of infant-mother and maternal language were videotaped at home. The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory-Korean(MCDI-K; Fenson, 1991; Pae, 1993) was used to measure infant's language. The score of the infants' receptive language was higher than that of expressive language. Mean level of the infant's play was in the relational play, that is, he/she integrated two or more toys in an inappropriate manner during the play. There was no significant sex difference in the total language scores and in their play. The development of the infant's language was positively correlated with the infant's play level. The maternal language and play were positively correlated with the infant's language and play development.