Core vocabulary for AAC practice from Mandarin Chinese-speaking Taiwanese without disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to select a core vocabulary list obtained from Mandarin Chinese-speaking Taiwanese persons without disabilities. Mandarin Chinese is dominant and official language of Taiwan. A total of 28 participants, equally divided among seven age groups, were recruited for the study. In all, 112 samples across different communication contexts were collected. Results indicated that 100 core words selected had coverage of 66.7% of the entire composite sample. The proportion of function words versus content words in the top 100 core words was 11% and 89%, respectively. The core vocabulary was categorized into eight parts of speech, including nouns, pronouns, numbers, adverbs, determiners, prepositions, adjectives, and verbs. Implications, limitations, and further research are discussed.

Keywords:

• Augmentative and alternative communication
• core vocabulary
• communication
• Mandarin Chinese
• multicultural

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 VTR7000 Voice Tracer Audio Recorder is a registered trademark of PHILIPS, https://www.philips.com.tw/

2 ATR3350XiS omnidirectional condenser lavalier microphone is a registered trademark of Audio-Technica, https://www.audio-technica.com.tw/

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, under Grant [MOST 104-2622-H-040-001-CC2].