Hebrew verbs were analyzed in the peer talk produced by 36 Hebrew-speaking children in two age/schooling groups
(4;0–5;0 and 5;0–6;0 years), and from two socio-economic backgrounds (SES), mid-high and low. Each of the four age/SES groups
consisted of nine children in three triads, where each triad was recorded for 30 minutes while playing. The interface of lexical and
morphological growth was demonstrated in the developing organization of verbs in terms of roots, binyan
conjugations and derivational families. SES was found the major source of variation in all measures, indicating a smaller and less
specific verb lexicon in the low SES groups. Network analyses, a novel methodological approach, revealed the internal structure of
the verb category in each age/SES cell, pointing to a scarce and less complex verb lexicon of the low SES groups. These measures
also accounted for the growth potential of the network, increasing from the younger low SES group at one pole and peaking in the
older mid-high SES at the other pole. These quantitative and qualitative differences in the morphological make-up of the verb
lexicon and its usage patterns in preschool peer talk have implications for the impact of SES on verb learning in Hebrew.
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