PURPOSE: To characterize the expressive vocabulary and analyze the variables in a regional sample of students of first grade of elementary school in Maceió. METHODS: The sample was composed by 72 children from three Maceió public schools. To select the sample, the children underwent speech evaluation through the ABFW Test - Phonology; and expressive vocabulary through the ABFW - Vocabulary Test. Following, statistical analysis was conducted using Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests. Statistical significance was considered as p value smaller than 0.05. RESULTS: There was no difference between gender and among age ranges in lexical performance. Differences among schools were observed. When compared to data from the ABFW, the children from Maceió underachieved the expected scores in the semantic fields sites, clothing, food, and shapes and colors. The best performance was observed for the fields animal, vehicles, furniture and utensils. The most recurrent substitution processes were the co-hyponym, valorization of the visual stimulus, words that designate their semantic attributes, hypernym, parasynonym or equivalents. CONCLUSION: The children of Maceió present a similar lexical development, independent of gender or age group, with a difference only among the schools tested.
Vocabulary; Language tests; Child; Language; Language development