Portability, Ecology and Adaptation: A Framework for Deploying Vocabulary Assessment Tools in Tribal Language Contexts in India

Author(s)	Dr Stuti Bhagat
Country	India
Abstract	Standardised vocabulary assessment tools such as the Renfrew Word Finding Vocabulary Test (WFVT), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), and the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) are core instruments in developmental language research and clinical practice. The usage of wordlists as part of the methodology in the tribal language context in India raises fundamental questions of validity. The paper identifies three dimensions in which portability concerns arise: the item dimension, the norming dimension, and the construct dimension. A four-type taxonomy of item-level portability failure is proposed, distinguishing referent absence, referent mismatch, loanword substitution, and register mismatch. The paper proposes a three-stage adaptation framework as practical methodological guidance for researchers working in tribal language contexts comprising universality audit, ethnographic replacement, and community-referenced validation
Keywords	Vocabulary Assessment, Portability, Tribal Languages, Kurukh, Linguistic Adaptation, Lexical Ecology, Wordlist Methodology
Field	Sociology > Linguistic / Literature
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 3, May-June 2026
Published On	2026-05-30
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i03.79965

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