Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T10:58:39.678Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Specific language impairment at adolescence: Avoiding complexity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2011

LAURICE TULLER ,
CÉLIA HENRY ,
EVA SIZARET  and
MARIE-ANNE BARTHEZ
LAURICE TULLER*
Affiliation:
Université François Rabelais de Tours
CÉLIA HENRY
Affiliation:
Institut de Rééducation de la Communication, de la Vue et de l'Ouïe (IRECOV), Tours
EVA SIZARET
Affiliation:
Regional University Hospital Center (CHRU), Tours
MARIE-ANNE BARTHEZ
Affiliation:
Regional University Hospital Center (CHRU), Tours
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Laurice Tuller, Université François Rabelais de Tours, Laboratoire Imagerie et Cerveau, Inserm U930, CHRU Bretonneau, 2 Boulevard Tonnellé, 37044 Tours Cedex, France. E-mail: tuller@univ-tours.fr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study explores complex language in adolescents with specific language impairment (SLI) with the aim of finding out how aspects of language characteristic of typical syntactic development after childhood fare and, in particular, whether there is evidence that individuals with SLI avoid using structures whose syntactic derivation involves greater computational complexity. An analysis of spontaneous language samples of 18 French-speaking adolescents with SLI, compared to groups of typically developing speakers, showed that whereas complexity increases with age in the latter, behaviors of avoidance are clear in the former, in the form of low frequencies of complex structures, but also frequency of failed attempts and alternative strategies. Whereas increasing complexity is the hallmark of syntactic development after childhood, avoidance of complexity appears to characterize SLI after childhood.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 161 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aram, D. M., Ekelman, B. L., & Nation, J. E. (1984). Preschoolers with language disorders: 10 years later. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 27, 232–244.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Audollent, C., & Tuller, L. (2003). La dysphasie: Quelles séquelles en Français? Approche Neuropsychologique des Apprentissages Chez l'Enfant, 74–75, 264–270.Google Scholar
Billard, C., De Becque, B., Duvelleroy, C., Barthez, M.-A., & Gillet, P. (1999). Les dysphasies de développement: Quels adultes? Orthomagazine, 33, 16–18.Google Scholar
Billard, C., Loisel Dufour, M. L., Gillet, P., & Ballanger, M. (1989). Evolution du langage oral et du langage écrit dans une population de dysphasie de développement de forme expressive. Approche Neuropsychologique des Apprentissages Chez l'Enfant, 1, 16–22.Google Scholar
Chevrie-Muller, C., Simon, A.-M., & Decante, P. (1980). Epreuves pour l'Examen du Langage. Paris: Editions du Centre de Psychologie Appliquée.Google Scholar
Clark, E. (1985). The acquisition of romance, with special reference to French. In Slobin, D. I. (Ed.), The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition: Vol. 1. The data (pp. 687–782). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Conti-Ramsden, G., Botting, N., Simkin, Z., & Know, E. (2001). Follow-up of children attending infant language units: Outcomes at 11 years of age. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 36, 207–219.Google Scholar
Conti-Ramsden, G., & Durkin, K. (2008). Language and independence in adolescents with and without a history of specific language impairment (SLI). Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 51, 70–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Cat, C. (2002). French dislocation. PhD Dissertation, University of York.Google Scholar
Delage, H. (2008). Evolution de l'hétérogénéité linguistique chez les enfants sourds moyens et légers: étude de la complexité morphosyntaxique. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Université François Rabelais de Tours.Google Scholar
Delage, H., Monjauze, C., Hamann, C., & Tuller, L. (2008). Relative clauses in atypical acquisition of French. Paper presented at GALA 2007.Google Scholar
Deltour, J.-J., & Hupkens, D. (1980). Test de Vocabulaire Actif et Passif. Paris: Editions de l'Application des Techniques Modernes.Google Scholar
Felsenfeld, S., Broen, P. A., & MacGue, M. A. (1992). A 28-year follow-up of adults with history of moderate phonological disorder: Linguistic and personality results. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 35, 1114–1125.Google Scholar
Ferré, S. (2008). Strategies of avoidance in (a)typical development of French. Paper presented at Romance Turn 3, University of Southampton, September 18–20.Google Scholar
Friedmann, N., Belletti, A., & Rizzi, L. (2009). Relativized relatives: Types of intervention in the acquisition of A-bar dependencies. Lingua, 119, 67–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, E. (1998). Linguistic complexity: Locality of syntactic dependencies. Cognition, 68, 1–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamann, C., Tuller, L., Monjauze, C., Delage, H., & Henry, C. (2007). (Un)successful subordination in French-speaking children and adolescents with SLI. In Caunt-Nulton, H., Kulatilake, S., & Woo, I. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 286–297). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Hamann, C., & Tuller, L. (2010). Relative clause production in French children and adolescents., Unpublished manuscript, University of Oldenburg and François Rabelais University, Tours.Google Scholar
Henry, C. (2006). Compensation chez les adolescents dysphasiques: Analyse du langage spontané. Unpublished master's dissertation, Université François Rabelais de Tours.Google Scholar
Jakubowicz, C. (2005). The language faculty: (Ab)normal development and interface constraints. Paper presented at GALA 2005, University of Siena.Google Scholar
Jakubowicz, C., & Strik, N. (2008). Scope-marking strategies in the acquisition of long distance wh-questions in French and Dutch. Language and Speech, 51, 101–132.Google Scholar
Jakubowicz, C., & Tuller, L. (2008). Specific language impairment in French. In Ayoun, D. (Ed.), Studies in French applied linguistics (pp. 97–134). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Johnson, C., Beitchman, J., Escobar, M., Atkinson, L., Wilson, B., Brownlie, E., et al. (1999). Fourteen-year follow-up of children with and without speech/language impairments: Speech/language stability and outcomes. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42, 744–760.Google Scholar
Kaufman, A., & Kaufman, N. L. (1993). K-ABC: Batterie pour l'examen psychologique de l'enfant. Paris: Editions du Centre de Psychologie Appliquée.Google Scholar
Khomsi, A. (2001). Evaluation du Langage Oral (ELO). Paris: Editions du Centre de Psychologie Appliquée.Google Scholar
Khomsi, A., & Nanty, I. (2001). Evaluation Des Compétences Linguistiques au Collège (ECL-C). Paris: Editions du Centre de Psychologie Appliquée.Google Scholar
Labelle, M. (1990). Predication, Wh-movement, and the development of relative clauses Language Acquisition, 1, 95–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leadholm, B., & Miller, J. (1992). Language sample analysis: The Wisconsin guide. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Bureau for Exceptional Children.Google Scholar
Lee, L. (1971). Northwestern Syntax Screening Test. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Leonard, L. B. (1995). Functional categories in the grammar of children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 38, 1270–1283.Google Scholar
Leonard, L. B. (1998). Children with specific language impairment. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Loban, W. (1976). Language development: Kindergarten through grade twelve. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk (3rd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Marinellie, S. A. (2004). Complex syntax used by school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) in child–adult conversation. Journal of Communication Disorders, 37, 517–533.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mérienne, P. (2008). Etude de la complexité phonologique et morphosyntaxique dans le langage spontané d'adolescents dysphasiques. Unpublished master's dissertation, Université François Rabelais de Tours.Google Scholar
Miller, C., Leonard, L. B., & Finneran, D. (2008). Grammaticality judgements in adolescents with and without language impairment. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 43, 346–360.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Monjauze, C. (2007). Langage et épilepsie à pointes centro-temporales: Déficits et séquelles. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Université François Rabelais de Tours.Google Scholar
Nippold, M. (2007). Syntactic attainments. In Nippold, M. (Ed.), Later language development: School-age children, adolescents and adults (pp. 157–175). Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.Google Scholar
Rondal, J. A. (1999). Le langage oral. In Rondal, J. A. & Seron, X. (Eds.), Troubles du langage, bases théoriques, diagnostic et re-education (pp. 395–412). Bruxelles: Mardaga.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Mawhood, L., & Howlin, P. (1991). Language delay and social development. In Fletcher, P. & Hall, D. (Eds.), Specific speech and language disorders (pp. 63–78). London: Whurr Publishers.Google Scholar
Scott, C. (1988). Spoken and written syntax. In Nippold, M. (Ed.), Later language development: Ages 9 through 19 (pp. 49–95). San Diego, CA: College Hill Press.Google Scholar
Scott, C. (2004). Syntactic ability in children and adolescents with language and learning disabilities. In Berman, R. A. (Ed.), Language development across childhood and adolescents (pp. 111–134). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, C. M., & Stokes, S. (1995). Measures of syntax in school-age children and adolescents. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 26, 309–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, C. M., & Winsor, J. (2000). General language performance measures in spoken and written narrative and expository discourse of school-age children with language learning disabilities. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 43, 324–339.Google Scholar
Snowling, M., Bishop, D. V. M., & Stothard, S. E. (2000). Is preschool language impairment a risk factor of dyslexia in adolescence? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 587–599.Google Scholar
Stothard, S. E., Snowling, M. J., Bishop, D. V. M., Chipchase, B. B., & Kaplan, C. (1998). Language-impaired preschoolers: A follow-up into adolescence. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 41, 407–418.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tolchinsky, L. (2004). The nature and scope of later language development. In Berman, R. A. (Ed.), Language development across childhood and adolescents (pp. 233–248). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Tomblin, J. B., Freese, P., & Records, N. (1992). Diagnosing specific language impairment in adults for the purpose of pedigree analysis. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 35, 832–843.Google Scholar
Tuller, L., Delage, H., & Monjauze, C. (2006). Avoiding complexity in atypical development of French. Talk presented at the Latsis Colloquium, University of Geneva, January 26–28, 2006.Google Scholar
Tuller, L., Delage, H., Monjauze, C., Piller, A.-G., & Barthez, M.-A. (2011). Clitic pronoun production as a measure of atypical language development in French: A comparative study of SLI, mild-to-moderate deafness and benign epilepsy of childhood with centrotemporal Spikes. Lingua, 121, 423–441.Google Scholar
van der Lely, H. (2004). Evidence for and implication of a domain-specific grammatical deficit. In Jenkins, L. (Ed.), Variation and universals in biolinguistics (pp. 117–145). Oxford: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1991). The Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (3rd ed.). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar