Gender effects in lexical and morphosyntactic acquisition of Arabic: A CDI study

Research suggests that girls acquire language faster than boys, with gender differences most pronounced in vocabulary acquisition during early childhood. This study examines the role of gender in the acquisition of vocabulary and morphosyntax in Palestinian Arabic-speaking children aged 18 to 36 months. Using the Palestinian Arabic Communicative Development Inventories, this study analyzes lexical and morphosyntactic development in 1399 children, highlighting month-by-month differences between boys and girls. Significant gender differences favoring girls were observed in both lexical and morphosyntactic abilities, with girls outperforming boys in vocabulary production and morphosyntactic ability at various stages, even after excluding gendered words from the analysis; however, effect sizes were small. The gender gap diminished by 36 months. These findings align with previous studies on European languages and contribute to our understanding of early language acquisition in Arabic, suggesting that both biological and sociocultural factors may account for the observed gender differences.