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Specific Language Impairment in Children: A Comparison of English and Swedish

Leonard, Laurence B ; Hansson, Kristina LU orcid ; Nettelbladt, Ulrika LU and Deevy, Patricia (2004) In Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics 12(3). p.219-246
Abstract
We report a cross-linguistic investigation of English-and Swedish-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) in an attempt to determine whether Wexler's (1998; 2003) (Extended) Unique Checking Constraint (EUCC) can account for the grammatical profiles of these groups of children. In Study 1, a group of Swedish-speaking preschoolers with SLI showed greater use of finite verb inflections and copula forms than a group of English-speaking preschoolers with SLI, even though the two groups were carefully matched according to both age and severity of language impairment. In Study 2, the same Swedish-speaking children with SLI showed high levels of appropriate verb-second use with finite verbs. However, they were less proficient in... (More)
We report a cross-linguistic investigation of English-and Swedish-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) in an attempt to determine whether Wexler's (1998; 2003) (Extended) Unique Checking Constraint (EUCC) can account for the grammatical profiles of these groups of children. In Study 1, a group of Swedish-speaking preschoolers with SLI showed greater use of finite verb inflections and copula forms than a group of English-speaking preschoolers with SLI, even though the two groups were carefully matched according to both age and severity of language impairment. In Study 2, the same Swedish-speaking children with SLI showed high levels of appropriate verb-second use with finite verbs. However, they were less proficient in this regard than a group of younger typically developing Swedish children with similar mean lengths of utterance. The findings from both studies are generally compatible with predictions based on the EUCC. Issues in need of future investigation are discussed. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics
volume
12
issue
3
pages
219 - 246
publisher
Taylor & Francis
ISSN
1048-9223
DOI
10.1207/s15327817la1203&4_3
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
39be009f-bf60-4b55-97da-7cd83f3012a2 (old id 1129977)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 10:00:19
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:56:09
@article{39be009f-bf60-4b55-97da-7cd83f3012a2,
  abstract     = {{We report a cross-linguistic investigation of English-and Swedish-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) in an attempt to determine whether Wexler's (1998; 2003) (Extended) Unique Checking Constraint (EUCC) can account for the grammatical profiles of these groups of children. In Study 1, a group of Swedish-speaking preschoolers with SLI showed greater use of finite verb inflections and copula forms than a group of English-speaking preschoolers with SLI, even though the two groups were carefully matched according to both age and severity of language impairment. In Study 2, the same Swedish-speaking children with SLI showed high levels of appropriate verb-second use with finite verbs. However, they were less proficient in this regard than a group of younger typically developing Swedish children with similar mean lengths of utterance. The findings from both studies are generally compatible with predictions based on the EUCC. Issues in need of future investigation are discussed.}},
  author       = {{Leonard, Laurence B and Hansson, Kristina and Nettelbladt, Ulrika and Deevy, Patricia}},
  issn         = {{1048-9223}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{219--246}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics}},
  title        = {{Specific Language Impairment in Children: A Comparison of English and Swedish}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327817la1203&4_3}},
  doi          = {{10.1207/s15327817la1203&4_3}},
  volume       = {{12}},
  year         = {{2004}},
}