The influence of argument structure and sentence length on morphosyntax in children with specific language impairment
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of sentence complexity on the omission of auxiliary be verbs and subject arguments in a group of children with specific language impairment (SLI). These children were compared to a group of younger, normally developing children matched for mean length of utterance (MLU) and a group of children matched for chronological age (CA). Using a story completion task, the children were required to produce sentences of varying length and argument structure complexity. Sentences containing intransitive (jump, run), transitive (bite, push), and ditransitive (give, put) verbs were compared. Each verb type differed in the number of arguments that were required to make a sentence grammatical. Verbs requiring only one obligatory argument (intransitives) were considered to be the least complex, while verbs requiring three obligatory arguments (ditransitives) were considered to be the most complex. Length was manipulated by requiring use of a nonobligatory prepositional phrase (an adjunct) to half of the target sentences. The results of the study indicated that the children with SLI omitted more auxiliary be verbs than either the MLU or CA controls. In addition, both the children with SLI and the MLU controls were more likely to omit the auxiliary forms when attempting sentences with ditransitive verbs. The age controls rarely omitted auxiliary verbs and the omissions did not vary with sentence complexity. The children with SLI omitted more subject arguments than the age controls only. Furthermore, both the children with SLI and the ULU controls omitted more subject arguments in the ditransitive verb condition. Length alone did not appear to have an impact on either auxiliary or subject omissions. The results of this study suggest that argument structure complexity may be a contributing factor to omission errors in children with SLI. This supports the notion that these children have more difficulty with complex linguistic information when compared to normally developing children.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Leonard, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Speech therapy|Preschool education
Off-Campus Purdue Users:
To access this dissertation, please log in to our
proxy server.