Keelevõime

Keelevõime is the capacity to perceive, understand, produce, and use language. It encompasses receptive skills (understanding spoken or written language) and expressive skills (speaking, writing, signaling). Keelevõime includes knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics, as well as the ability to use language appropriately in social contexts. It applies across languages a person knows, and its strength can vary between languages in bilingual individuals.

Keelevõime develops from infancy through adolescence and is shaped by both biological and environmental factors. Genetic and neurological factors influence how language networks form, while exposure to language, quality of interaction, schooling, and socio-economic context support vocabulary growth, grammar acquisition, and discourse abilities. Bilingual or multilingual development can lead to distributed strengths and different proficiencies across languages, rather than a single universal level of keelevõime.

Assessment of keelevõime typically involves standardized tests, language samples, and observational methods, conducted by educators or speech-language professionals. It is used to identify language delays, disorders, or specific difficulties such as developmental language disorder, aphasia after injury, or dyslexia. Keelevõime is closely related to literacy, but the two are not identical: strong reading and writing skills depend on underlying language abilities, while literacy also draws on other cognitive processes.

In educational and clinical settings, understanding keelevõime informs intervention and support strategies, including targeted vocabulary instruction, grammar practice, narrative skills development, and opportunities for meaningful language use.