A vast amount of research indicates that language and mathematical abilities of young children are associated. Many of these studies operationalized language abilities using tests assessing general vocabulary knowledge. However, recent research also indicates that vocabulary knowledge that is specific for mathematics might contribute to children's mathematical abilities, above and beyond general vocabulary knowledge. In the present study, we investigated whether this predictability extends to the area of probabilistic reasoning, particularly at a young age. To test the hypothesis that vocabulary knowledge (be it general or more specific) predicts children's probabilistic reasoning abilities, data were collected from 350 children when they attended third year of preschool and first grade of elementary school. Regression analyses showed that both general vocabulary knowledge and specific probabilistic vocabulary knowledge uniquely contributed to first grader's probabilistic reasoning abilities. These findings extended conclusions of previous research to the domain of probabilistic reasoning: Also in this domain, vocabulary knowledge is important for mathematical abilities. Results furthermore suggest that probabilistic reasoning has its own specific language demands.

大量研究表明，幼儿的语言和数学能力是相关的。其中许多研究使用评估一般词汇知识的测试来操作语言能力。然而，最近的研究也表明，特定于数学的词汇知识可能有助于提高儿童的数学能力，超出一般词汇知识。在本研究中，我们调查了这种可预测性是否延伸到概率推理领域，尤其是在年轻时。为了检验词汇知识（无论是一般性的还是更具体的）预测儿童概率推理能力的假设，我们从 350 名学前班三年级和小学一年级的儿童收集了数据。回归分析表明，一般词汇知识和特定概率词汇知识对一年级学生的概率推理能力有独特的贡献。这些发现将先前研究的结论扩展到概率推理领域：同样在该领域，词汇知识对于数学能力也很重要。结果进一步表明概率推理有其自身特定的语言需求。