Lexico-semantic and Morphosyntactic Processing in French-speaking Adolescents with and Without Developmental Language Disorder

Lexico-semantic and Morphosyntactic Processing in French-speaking Adolescents with and Without Developmental Language Disorder
Author: Émilie Courteau
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022
Genre:
ISBN:

Although the scientific community is still searching for a defining characteristic of developmental language disorder (DLD), problems with subject-verb agreement, and by extension morphosyntax, have been identified as a hallmark of English-speaking preschoolers and older children with DLD. However, in studies of French-speaking preschoolers with DLD, morphosyntax has not been found to be a specific linguistic weakness. Since there is evidence that some aspects of morphosyntax in French are acquired by children with typical language (TL) development only later in childhood, such as subregular and irregular subject-verb number agreement, henceforth SUBIRR, morphosyntax has been argued to be a French marker for DLD only in older childhood and adolescence. The present thesis aimed to determine if French speaking (pre-)teenagers with TL have acquired SUBIRR number agreement, resolve whether French-speaking (pre-)teenagers with DLD are impaired on SUBIRR number agreement, and establish whether morphosyntax is an area of weakness as compared to lexico-semantics in this population. SUBIRR number agreement and morphosyntactic skills were evaluated with tasks targeting the behavioural and neurocognitive levels using linguistics tasks and event-related potentials (ERP). Furthermore, we contrasted two theories' predictions on morphosyntactic skills in (pre-)teens with DLD : the procedural deficit hypothesis (Ullman & Pierpont, 2005; Ullman et al., 2020), and the generalized slowing hypothesis (Kail, 1994). This thesis is composed of three manuscripts for publication. The first evaluated our participants' skills in multiple linguistic domains with behavioural tasks typical of clinical and research settings. Data reveal impairments in the DLD group in both lexico-semantic and morphosyntactic domains but suggest that a SUBIRR number agreement task was best at discriminating DLD from controls. The second article presents a novel ERP experimental design using only grammatical sentences, presented simultaneously with semantically and grammatically congruent or incongruent images, to assess morphosyntactic and lexico-semantic sentence processing at the neurocognitive level. Data from twenty-eight French-speaking adults show that they elicited the expected ERP components found in previous studies using ungrammatical sentences. These data served as a reference to establish whether our participants with and without TL process sentences in a mature way. The third article tested this novel ERP experiment with our (pre-)teen participants. We tested predictions of the procedural deficit hypothesis which states that children with DLD should have impaired morphosyntax due to an underlying procedural memory deficit, and the generalized slowing hypothesis, which proposes that all linguistic domains should be impaired due to an underlying processing deficit. This experimental design was run on teens with and without DLD. Although some processing delays were found in the DLD group, results on most conditions better fit the procedural deficit hypothesis. This study suggests that, in contrast with morphosyntax, lexico-semantics is a relative strength in teenagers with DLD when processing linguistic information at the neurocognitive level. Overall, this thesis reveals that morphosyntax, tested through SUBIRR number agreement, is especially impaired in French-speaking teens with DLD when compared to their TL peers. We discuss the findings in relation to clinical practice and highlight the importance of examining neurocognitive processes in language assessment.

The Routledge Handbook of Experimental Linguistics

The Routledge Handbook of Experimental Linguistics
Author: Sandrine Zufferey
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 523
Release: 2023-09-04
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1000919382

The Routledge Handbook of Experimental Linguistics provides an up-to-date and accessible overview of various ways in which experiments are used across all domains of linguistics and surveys the range of state-of-the-art methods that can be applied to analyse the language of populations with a wide range of linguistic profiles. Each chapter provides a step-by-step introduction to theoretical and methodological challenges and critically presents a wide range of studies in various domains of experimental linguistics. This handbook: Provides a unified perspective on the data, methods and findings stemming from all experimental research in linguistics Covers many different subfields of linguistics, including argumentation theory, discourse studies and typology Provides an introduction to classical as well as new methods to conduct experiments such as eye tracking and brain imaging Features a range of internationally renowned academics Shows how experimental research can be used to study populations with various linguistic profiles, including young children, people with linguistic impairments, older adults, language learners and bilingual speakers Providing readers with a wealth of theoretical and practical information in order to guide them in designing methodologically sound linguistic experiments, this handbook is essential reading for scholars and students researching in all areas of linguistics.

Language and Cognitive Processes in Developmental Disorders

Language and Cognitive Processes in Developmental Disorders
Author: Dorothy Bishop
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2001
Genre: Children
ISBN: 9781841699103

This collection of papers by leading psychologists includes ground-breaking research on the similarities between SLI and autism, plus other studies at the cutting edge of the field of language impairment and developmental disorders.

Children with Specific Language Impairment

Children with Specific Language Impairment
Author: Laurence B. Leonard
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2000
Genre: Children
ISBN: 9780262621366

Children with Specific Language Impairment covers all aspects of SLI, including its history, possible genetic and neurobiological origins, and clinical and educational practice.

Advances in Language Acquisition

Advances in Language Acquisition
Author: Xenia Konstantinopoulou
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 492
Release: 2014-10-16
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1443869007

This book contains 51 chapters based on papers presented at the GALA (Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition) conference held in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 2011. It thus reflects the GALA 2011 scientific presentations and discussions and raises issues that are currently at the centre of language acquisition research. Such issues examined in this volume include first and second language acquisition and processing by children and adults; language acquisition by individuals with linguistic and/or cognitive impairment; and cross-linguistic comparisons in (a)typical language acquisition. As such, Advances in Language Acquisition constitutes a valuable reference guide for current work on the interdisciplinary research field of language acquisition.

Classification of Developmental Language Disorders

Classification of Developmental Language Disorders
Author: Ludo Verhoeven
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 463
Release: 2003-09-12
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1135638071

Chapters written by leading authorities offer current perspectives on the origins and development of language disorders. They address the question: How can the child's linguistic environment be restructured so that children at risk can develop important adaptive skills in the domains of self-care, social interaction, and problem solving? This theory-based, but practical book emphasizes the importance of accurate definitions of subtypes for assessment and intervention. It will be of interest to students, researchers, and practitioners in the field of developmental language disorders.

Expository Discourse in Children, Adolescents, and Adults

Expository Discourse in Children, Adolescents, and Adults
Author: Marilyn A. Nippold
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2013-03-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1136951059

School success in the 21st century requires proficiency with expository discourse -- the use and understanding of informative language in spoken and written modalities. This occurs, for example, when high school students read their textbooks and listen to their teachers' lectures, and later are asked to demonstrate their knowledge of this complex topic through oral reports and essay examinations. Although many students are proficient with the expository genre, others struggle to meet these expectations. This book is designed to provide information on the use and understanding of expository discourse in school-age children, adolescents, and young adults. Recently, researchers from around the world have been investigating the development of this genre in typical students and in those with language disorders. Although many books have addressed the development of conversational and narrative discourse, by comparison, books devoted to the topic of expository discourse are sparse. This crossdisciplinary volume fills that gap in the literature and makes a unique contribution to the study of language development and disorders. It will be of interest to a range of professionals, including speech-language pathologists, teachers, linguists, and psychologists who are concerned with language development and disorders.