Children’s exposure to talk about conceptual categories plays a powerful role in shaping their conceptual development. However, it remains unclear when parents begin to talk about categories with young children and whether such talk relates to children’s language skills. This study examines relations between parents’ talk about conceptual categories and infants’ expressive language development. Forty-seven parent-infant dyads were videotaped playing together at child age 10, 12, 14, and 16 months. Transcripts of interactions were analyzed to identify parents’ talk about conceptual categories. Children’s expressive language development was assessed at 18 months. Findings indicate that parents indeed talked about conceptual categories with infants and that talk was stable across time, with college-educated parents producing more than non-college-educated parents. Further, parents’ talk about conceptual categories between 10 and 16 months predicted children’s 18-month expressive language. This study sheds new light on mechanisms through which early experiences may support children’s language development.

儿童接触概念类别对于塑造他们的概念发展起着强大的作用。然而，目前尚不清楚父母何时开始与幼儿谈论类别以及这种谈论是否与孩子的语言技能有关。本研究探讨了父母谈论概念类别与婴儿表达性语言发展之间的关系。47 个亲子组合在 10、12、14 和 16 个月时一起玩耍的视频被拍摄下来。对互动记录进行分析，以确定父母谈论的概念类别。儿童表达性语言发展在 18 个月时进行评估。调查结果表明，父母确实与婴儿谈论了概念类别，而且这种谈论随着时间的推移是稳定的，受过大学教育的父母比没有受过大学教育的父母产生的更多。此外，父母在 10 至 16 个月期间谈论的概念类别可以预测孩子 18 个月时的语言表达能力。这项研究为早期经历支持儿童语言发展的机制提供了新的线索。