Abstract
The speech products of 104 young adult Melbourne males were analysed in order to determine whether the linguistic dimensions of the speech product bear a necessary relationship to the cognitive dimensions. Factor analysis of the 67 variables derived resulted in eight cognitive factors and ten linguistic factors.
To test whether a necessary relationship exists between any single linguistic factor and any single cognitive factor, scores on each linguistic factor were cross-tabulated against scores on each cognitive factor. With one exception (the relation of the factors, Linguistic Productivity and Cognitive Productivity), no necessary relationships were found, although some factors were shown to be significantly associated.
The relationship of the two productivity factors indicates the importance of adopting a method of testing which does not constrain a subject's verbal output. The general failure to reveal necessary relationships between linguistic and cognitive dimensions raises doubts about language intervention programs which aim to augment cognitive ability through increasing a subject's linguistic skill.
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