Publications
To appear
Defty, C. & Southwood, F. (2026). (forthcoming) Child-directed Speech in a low-SES Afrikaans-speaking community in South Africa: Differences between rural and urban-situated households. Infancy.
Mahura, O., Pascoe, M., Brookes, H. Setswana speech development. In McLeod, S. (ed). The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World. Oxford University Press.
Makaure, P., & Wilsenach, C (Submitted). A Linguistic Analysis of Spelling Errors in Northern Sotho-Speaking Grade 3 Learners. Perspectives in Education
White, M; Southwood, F & Brookes, H. (Nov 2025) Early Bilingual Advantage: Comparing Afrikaans – South African English Bilingual Toddlers and Monolingual Peers in Early Vocabulary and Word Combining. International Journal of Bilingualism
2026
Ndhambi, M., Brookes, H.J., Makaure, P., & Pascoe, M. Noun Bias in Vocabulary Development of Xitsonga-Speaking Children aged 16 to 32 Months. First Language.
2025
Brookes, H.J., Southwood, F., Makaure, P., White, M.J., Mössmer, M., Defty, C., Yalala, S.L., Brink, N., Kruger, H., Matfunjwa, M., Ndhambi, M., Ndlangamandla S., Bhuda, T.M., Bronn, C., Buthelezi, N., Jiyana, W., Khumalo, P.F., Miriri, L., & Skosana, N. (2025). A Crosslinguistic Study of Gesture and Lexical Development in South African Infants. First Language
Brookes, H., Southwood, F., Mössmer, M., Makaure, P., White, M. J., Coetsee, C., Yalala, S. L., Kruger, H., Ndhambi, M., Ndlangamandla, S., Bhuda, M. T., Brink, N., Buthelezi, N., Jiyana, W., Khumalo, F. P., Ludidi, B., Matfunjwa, M., Miriri, L., & Skosana, N. (2025). Instrument adaptation for measuring early child language development across multilingual and sociocultural diverse settings. Developmental Psychology. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dev0001935
Brookes, H., Makaure, Z., Yalala, S., Danvers, H., Mössmer, M., Little, F., Ludidi, B., Ndhambi, M., Southwood, F., and the South African CDI Team. (2025). Mean Length of Utterance: A study of early language development in four Southern Bantu languages. Journal of Child Language, 52(2), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000923000685
Brookes, H.J., Southwood, F., Defty, C., Kruger, H., Bronn, C. (2025) The Psychometric Status of Child Language Assessment Tools in South Africa’s Official Languages. South African Journal of Communication Disorders.
2024
Brookes, H., Agyepong, D., White, M., & Yalala, S. (2024). The development of speech and gesture in Sesotho narratives. Gesture, 22(3). https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.21006.bro
Makaure, P. & Wilsenach, C. (2024). Explaining variation in reading comprehension in Northern Sotho-English bilingual children: A Simple View of Reading perspective on longitudinal data. Reading Psychology, 45(2), 143–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2023.2276444
Makaure, P., Wilsenach, P., & Schaefer, M. 2024. Longitudinal predictors of single word spelling in Northern Sotho-English bilingual children: a cross-linguistic study. Reading and Writing. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-024-10601-z
Malan, T., Tucker, W. D., Yalala, S. L., & South African CDI Team. (2024). A Pilot Mobile App to Collect South African Child Language Data. In W. Chigona, S. Kabanda, & L. F. Seymour (Eds.), Implications of Information and Digital Technologies for Development. ICT4D 2024. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology (Vol. 708, pp. 313–327). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66982-8_22
Pascoe, M., Ndhambi, M., Mahura, O., Buthelezi, N. P., Husselmann, N., & Ludidi, B. (2024). Many voices, many languages: Listening and learning from South African children. In Early Childhood Voices: Children, families, professionals, 151–163. Springer.
Southwood, F., & White, M. J. (2024). Language acquisition in Afrikaans, in Carstens, W.A.M. & Bosman, N. (eds.). Afrikaans Linguistics: Contemporary perspectives, 611–638. SUN PReSS.
Stam, G., Brookes, H., Ngumbela, U. (2024). What speech and gesture illustrate about the Thinking-for-Speaking patterns of child isiXhosa speakers learning English. In Brown, A. & Eskildsen, S. W. (eds.). Multimodality and Multilingual Interaction Across Epistemologies, 234–239. Routledge.
White, M., Southwood, F., Yalala, S L., & the South African CDI team. (2024). Early child language resources and corpora developed in nine African languages by the SADiLaR Child Language Development Node. In Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop on Resources for African Indigenous Languages @ LREC-COLING 2024(pp. 86–93). Torino, Italia: ELRA and ICCL.
2023
Brink, N. (2023). Metonymic relations underlying the one-word utterances of Afrikaans-speaking infants and toddlers. Language and Cognition, 15(1), 86–105. https://doi.org/10.1017/langcog.2022.26
Nel, J., Southwood, F., & White, M.J. 2023. The comprehension and production of passive constructions by Afrikaans and isiXhosa first language Grade 1 children, Language Acquisition. DOI: 10.1080/10489223.2022.2159828
2022
Simonsen, H. D. G. & Southwood, F. (2022). Child language assessment across different multilingual contexts: Insights and challenges from South and North. In Røyneland, U. & Blackwood, R. (eds.), Multilingualism Across the Lifespan, 11–30. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003125815
Southwood, F., Brink, N., & Oosthuizen, H. (2022). Kindertaal [Child language], in W.A.M. Carstens & T. Van Dyk (eds.), Toegepaste Taalkunde in Afrikaans [Applied Linguistics in Afrikaans]. Van Schaik.
White, M.J., Southwood, F., & Huddlestone, K. (2022). Children’s acquisition of negation in L1 Afrikaans. First Language, 43(1), 22–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237221112064
2021
Southwood, F., White, M.J., Brookes, H., Pascoe, M., Ndhambi, M., Yalala, S., Mahura, O., Mössmer, M., Oosthuizen, H., Brink, N., & Alcock, K. (2021). Sociocultural factors affecting vocabulary development in young South African children. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1645. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.642315
2020
Brink, N. (2020). A usage-based investigation of Afrikaans-speaking children’s holophrases and communicative intentions, SPiL PLUS, 59, 21–44. https://doi.org/10.5842/59-0-860
Southwood, F., & Oosthuizen, H., and the South African CDI Team. (2020). Afrikaanse taalvariasie: Uitdagings vir regverdige meting van jong kinders se taal. SPiL PLUS, 59, 81–104. https://doi.org/10.5842/59-0-829
2018
Dowling, T., & Whitelaw, E.. (2018). Working towards culturally and linguistically diverse speech assessments for South African children: A Xhosa case study. Language Matters, 49(2), 39–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2018.1467479
2017
Brink, N. & Breed, A. (2017). Hoe jong Afrikaanssprekende kinders betekenis aan hul vroeë taalgebruik verbind. [How young Afrikaans children connect meaning to their early vocabulary]. Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe, 57(4), 1012–1036. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-c3dbe1caf
Conference Presentations
2026
Nethathe, A. V. (2026). Early acquisition of noun classes in Tshivenda: A study of
toddlers aged 2.4–2.6 years. Young Africanist Research Network (YARN) Conference, Göttingen, Germany, March 2026.
Defty, C., Southwood,F., Brookes, H.J., and The SA CDI Team.(2026).Adaptation in Africa for Africa: Building Linguistically and Culturally Valid Early Language Assessments for Africa’s Languages. Young Africanist Research Network (YARN) Conference, Göttingen, Germany, March 2026.
2025
Brookes, H.J. and the CDI team. (2025). A crosslinguistic study of early gesture and lexical development in 11 South African languages. International Society for Gestures Studies 9-11 July, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Brookes, H.J. & Southwood, F. (2025). Measurement for whom? Early Childhood Development colloquium, Cape Town, August 2025.
Southwood, F., Brönn, C., Defty, C., Brookes, H.J. & Kruger, H. (2025). Validated child language assessment tools in South Africa’s official languages: What do we have, and can we use these for multilingual language assessment. Paper presented at the 2025 Annual Congress of the South African Speech-Language and Hearing Association, Port Elizabeth, 15 – 17 October 2025. [Awarded best paper on speech-language therapy]
Kruger, H. (2025, October). Exploring the perceptions of caregivers in a low-income South African community about child-directed speech [Poster presentation]. ENT SASLHA Congress, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Defty, C. & Southwood, F. (2025). Child-directed speech in rural and urban households in a low-SES Afrikaans-speaking community in South Africa. Paper presented at Ninth Budapest Colloquim on Language Acquisition 9, online, 14 November 2025.
Nethathe, A. V. (2025). Early acquisition of grammatical morphology in Tshivenda: A study of toddlers aged 2.4–2.6 years. Paper presented at the Southern African Microlinguistics Workshop, Rhodes University.
2024
Southwood, F., White, M.J., Brookes, H.J., Buthelezi, N. & the South African CDI Team. Early Language Development in four South African languages: Noun and verb bias and morphological onset.Presented at the 16th IASCL, Prague, Czech Republic, 15-19 July 2024.
Brookes, H.J. Understanding the Role of Language Input in Early Childhood among IsiXhosa Speakers. Presentation at the 2024 SALALS Conference, Johannesburg, 24-26 June 2024.
Coetsee, C. Child-directed speech in low-SES communities: The case of Afrikaans rural and urban-situated infants. Presentation at the 2024 SALALS Conference, Johannesburg, 24-26 June 2024.
Ndlangamandla, S. and the CDI Team. Instrument Adaptation for Measuring Early Child Language Development across Multilingual and Socio-culturally Diverse Settings. Presentation at the 2024 SALALS Conference, Johannesburg, 24-26 June 2024.
Ndhambi, M., Brookes, H.J. & Pascoe, M. Morphosyntactic Development in Xitsonga-Speaking Children Aged 16-30 Months. Presentation at the 2024 SALALS Conference, Johannesburg, 24-26 June 2024.
Brink, N., White, M., Southwood, F. & Kruger, H. The Impact of Known Risk Factors on the Vocabulary Development of Young Afrikaans-speaking Children from Mid- and Low-SES Backgrounds. Presentation at the 2024 SALALS Conference, Johannesburg, 24-26 June 2024.
Makaure, P. & Wilsenach, C. Phonological awareness and literacy development in Northern Sotho-English bilingual children: a longitudinal study. Presentation at the 2024 Education Deans Forum Colloquium, Johannesburg, 17 May 2024.
2023
White, M.J., Southwood, F., Krysztofiak, M., Krajewski, G., Muszynska, K., Gram Garmann, N. & Haman, E. A North-South perspective on SES, socialisation and bilingual vocabulary development. Poster presented at the MultiLing Closing Conference, Oslo University, 18-20 October 2023.
Southwood, F. Early communication development in multilingual South Africa. Invited plenary presented at the at the National Convention of the South African Speech, Language, and Hearing Association, Cape Town, 20 October 2023.
White, M. & Southwood, F. Which factors affect bilingual vocabulary size in toddlers acquiring Afrikaans and South African English? Paper presented at the 14th meeting of the International Symposium on Bilingualism, Macquarie University, Sydney, 26-30 June 2023.
2022
White, M.J., Southwood, F., Gram Garmann, N. & Haman, E., Hansen, P., Krajewski, G., Mieszkowska, K. & Orzeszek, D. A North-South perspective on bilingualism and socioeconomic status. Paper presented at the 2022 International Research in Early Childhood Education Conference, Tromsø, Norway, 21-22 November 2022.
Brink, N., Oosthuizen, H, Southwood, F. & White, M. Afrikaans- and South African English-speaking infants who say 10 words or less: Variability in their expressive vocabulary. Paper presented at the 2022 conference of the South African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society, University of Potchefstroom, 27-30 June 2022.
White, M.J. & Southwood, F. 2022. Does geographical location influence toddlers’ lexical knowledge? Findings from South Africa. Paper presented at the Eight European Network Meeting on Communicative Development Inventories – EUNM-CDI 2022, University of Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 15-17 May 2022.
Yalala, S. & Brookes, H.J. Early production of actions and gestures in six South African languages. Paper presented International Society for Gesture Studies 9th conference,13–15 July, Chicago, USA
Child Language Development: Taking stock and looking to the future. Workshop at the Southern African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society conference 2022, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa, 27–30 June 2022.
Marguerite De Jongh. Collaboration between Teachers and Speech Language therapists: Supporting multilingual learners with speech, language and communication needs.
Carol Bloch. State of Early Childhood Development in South Africa.
Amina Abubakar. Measuring early language development in the health sector on the African context: Experiences from Kenya.
Virginia Marchman. Measuring early language development in US and Senegal – past and latest developments (what can be done).
Ngazibini Booi. Experiences of speech and language therapists in South Africa.
Nomfundo Buthelezi, Michelle Pascoe, Mikateko Ndhambi. Needs of Speech and Language Therapy in South Africa.
Anne Baker. The social and economic costs of underdeveloped language capacity locally and globally.
Ndhambi, M., Ludidi, B., Yalala, S., Makaure, P. & Brookes, H.J. Length of utterance – morpheme or words? A study of early language development. Paper presented at the Southern African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society conference 2022, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa, 27–30 June 2022.
Brink, N., Oosthuizen, H., Southwood, F. & White, M.J. Afrikaans- and South African English-speaking infants who say 10 words or less: Variability in their expressive vocabulary. Paper presented at the Southern African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society conference 2022, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa, 27–30 June 2022.
White, M.J. & Southwood, F. Does geographical location influence toddlers’ lexical knowledge? Findings from South Africa. Paper presented at the Eight European Network Meeting on Communicative Development Inventories – EUNM-CDI 2022, University of Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 15–17 May 2022.
2021
White, M. Brookes, H., Brink, N., Mahura, O., Mössmer, M., Ndhambu, M., Oosthuizen, H., Pascoe, M., Yalala, S., & Alcock, K. Equivalent child language assessment instruments across languages: Southern Africa CDIs. Paper presented at the 13th International Symposium on Bilingualism, Warsaw, Poland, 10–14 July 2021.
White, M., Brink, N., Oosthuizen, H., & Southwood, F. Vocabulary size of Afrikaans-speaking toddlers: Influence of health-related and household-related risk factors across SES groups. Paper presented at the 2021 conference of the South African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society, online, 21-23 September 2021.
Yalala, S., Mahura, O., Ludidi, B., Oosthuizen, H., Alcock, K., Brink, N., Brookes, H., Mössmer, M., Ndhambi, M., Pascoe, M., Southwood, F., & White, M. Adaptation and development of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) for South African languages. Paper presented at the 2021 conference of the South African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society, online, 21-23 September 2021.
Ndhambi, M., Ludidi, B., Southwood, F., Brink, N., Brookes, H., Mahura, O., Alcock, K., Mössmer, M., Oosthuizen, H., Pascoe, M., White, M., & Yalala, S. Sociocultural Factors Affecting Vocabulary Development in Young South African Children. Paper presented at the 2021 conference of the South African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society, online, 21-23 September 2021.
Southwood, F., Oosthuizen, H., White, M.J., Brookes, H.J., Dowling, T., Pascoe, M., Ndhambi, M. & Alcock, K. 2021. Equivalent child language assessment instruments across languages: Southern Africa CDI. Paper presented at the International Symposium on Bilingualism 13, Warsaw University, Poland, 14 July 2021.
2019
Pascoe, M., Ndhambi, M., Mahura, O., Yalala, S., Brookes, H.J., Oosthuizen, H. & Southwood, F. Multilingualism in Southern Africa: Challenges and Opportunities. Invited seminar presentation at Linköping University, Sweden, November 2019.
Alcock, K., Dowling, T., Pascoe, M., Mahura, O., Brookes, H.J., Ndhambi, M., Southwood, F. & Oosthuizen, H. Multilingual construction of Communicative Development Inventories in Southern Africa. Poster presentation at the Child Language Symposium, University of Sheffield, England, July 2019.
2018
Pascoe, M., Mahura, O., Brookes, H.J., Dowling, T., Oosthuizen, H., Southwood, F., Kgolo, N., Letsholo, R. & Alcock, K. Towards Communicative Development Inventories for Southern African children. Poster presentation at the Workshop on Current Issues in Child Bilingual Development, Sydney, Australia, 26-27 July 2018.
2017
Southwood, F., Brookes, H.J., Dowling, T., Oosthuizen, H., Pascoe, M. and the Southern African CDI team. Addressing the Challenges that language variation poses for fair child assessment. Presentation at the workshop Language variation, contact, and change: South African perspectives, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, September 2017.
The Child Language Development Node 