Purpose. Children"s language competence is associated with or influenced by a number of factors that can be called sociolinguistic or sociodemographic. Among other things, children cannot avoid being influenced by contact persons from their neighborhood. This study aimed to analyze associations between children"s German language competence and characteristics of the districts where they attended daycare centers.

Methods. Two samples of four-year-old German children were analyzed separately: (a) 1,675 children from the states Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, (b) 675 children from the Hessian city Frankfurt/Main. Both groups were analyzed regarding their geolinguistic characteristics. Language skills were assessed by the language test "Kindersprachscreening". Its total scores were Spearman-correlated with (metrical or ordinal) characteristics of the regions where children attended daycare centers.

Results. Children with better German language skills attended daycare centers in regions with a higher number of ENT doctors and pediatricians, larger proportions of inhabitants with a high income, educational level, monolingual Germans, daycare facility attendants, less unemployed and recipients of the financial aid, less foreigners and immigrants. All correlation coefficients were low.

Conclusion. Children with better German language skills attended daycare centers (and probably lived) in comparatively prosperous regions (or districts) with very few non-Germans, which means a higher quality and quantity of the German language input. Also, they increased German language input through the early attendance of daycare facilities and profited by the uncomplicated access to ENT doctors and pediatricians.

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