Complex sentence production by adolescents with Down syndrome

The use of complex syntax was investigated in narrative language samples of older children and adolescents with Down syndrome (n = 24) and a group of typically developing children matched on mean length of utterance. Both groups used conjoined and subordinate sentence forms and did not differ significantly in either the proportion of utterances containing complex sentences or in the variety of complex sentence types used. The analysis of developmental patterns suggested a similar order of acquisition across groups. The findings indicate that syntactic development in individuals with Down syndrome continues into late adolescence and is not limited to simple syntax. This study does not support earlier findings of a critical period effect in syntactic development in Down syndrome based on age or syntactic complexity.

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The understanding of complex syntax in children with Down syndrome

Wellcome Open Research ◽

10.12688/wellcomeopenres.14861.2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 140 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pauline Frizelle ◽

Paul A. Thompson ◽

Mihaela Duta ◽

Dorothy V. M. Bishop

Keyword(s):

Down Syndrome ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Relative Clauses ◽

Significant Proportion ◽

Control Groups ◽

Complex Sentences ◽

Complex Syntax ◽

Complement Clauses ◽

Adverbial Clauses ◽

Digit Recall

Background: Down syndrome (DS) is associated with poor language skills that seem disproportionate to general nonverbal ability, but the nature and causes of this deficit are unclear. We assessed how individuals with DS understand complex linguistic constructions, and considered how cognitive ability and memory and impact the ability of those with DS to process these sentence types. Methods: There were three groups participating in the study: children with DS (n = 33) and two control groups composed of children with cognitive impairment of unknown aetiology (CI) (n = 32) and children with typical development (n = 33). The three groups did not differ on raw scores on a test of non-verbal cognitive ability. Using a newly devised animation task, we examined how well individuals with DS (n = 33) could understand relative clauses, complement clauses and adverbial clauses compared to children with CI and typically developing controls. Participants also completed the Test for the Reception of Grammar-2, three measures of memory (forward and backward digit recall, visuo-spatial memory) and a hearing screen. Results: Results indicated that (1) with the exception of intransitive subject relative clauses, children with DS performed at floor on all other complex sentences, (2) they performed at a significantly lower level than both control groups, and (3) DS status accounted for a significant proportion of the variance over and above memory skills. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that children with DS have a disproportionate difficulty understanding complex sentences compared to two control groups matched on mental age. Furthermore, their understanding of syntax is not completely explained by poor cognitive or memory skills, rather it appears to be a specific deficit that may distinguish children with DS from other neurodevelopmental disorders.

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Children's Second Language Acquisition of English Complex Syntax: The Role of Age, Input, and Cognitive Factors

Annual Review of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.1017/s0267190517000022 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 37 ◽

pp. 148-167 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Johanne Paradis ◽

Brian Rusk ◽

Tamara Sorenson Duncan ◽

Krithika Govindarajan

Keyword(s):

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Verbal Memory ◽

Cognitive Factors ◽

Complex Sentence ◽

Complex Sentences ◽

Complex Syntax ◽

The Individual ◽

L2 Vocabulary ◽

Analytic Reasoning

ABSTRACTThe goal of this study was to determine (a) the similarities and dissimilarities between child L2 and L1 acquisition of complex sentences and (b) the individual difference factors predicting L2 children's acquisition of complex sentences. We analyzed language samples from 187 English L2 children with diverse L1s (Agemean = 5;10 [years;months]; English exposuremean = 17 months). Children used various types of complex sentences at all levels of L2 exposure, including sentences with relative clauses, which are late-acquired by L1 learners. Mixed logistic regression modeling revealed that longer exposure to English in school, richer English environments outside school, larger L2 vocabulary, superior verbal memory and visual analytic reasoning contributed to greater use of complex sentences. L1 typology did not impact complex sentence use in the L2. Overall, L2 children used more complex sentences within a few months of English L2 exposure than what is reported for L1 children aged 2;0–4;0, revealing an advantage for an older age of acquisition. The predictive role of input and cognitive factors, as well as vocabulary, in children's use of complex sentences is more consistent with constructivist than generativist accounts of L2 syntactic acquisition.

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Does the Use of Complex Sentences Differentiate Between Bilinguals With and Without DLD? Evidence From Conversation and Narrative Tasks

Frontiers in Education ◽

10.3389/feduc.2021.804088 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

Author(s):

Johanne Paradis ◽

Tamara Sorenson Duncan ◽

Stephanie Thomlinson ◽

Brian Rusk

Keyword(s):

Relative Clauses ◽

Language Disorder ◽

Receptive Vocabulary ◽

Sentence Production ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

School Age ◽

Complex Sentence ◽

Vocabulary Size ◽

Complex Sentences ◽

Adverbial Clauses

Over-identification of language disorder among bilingual children with typical development (TD) is a risk factor in assessment. One strategy for improving assessment accuracy with bilingual children is to determine which linguistic sub-domains differentiate bilingual children with TD from bilingual children with developmental language disorder (DLD). To date, little research on sequential bilinguals with TD and DLD has focussed on complex (multi-clausal) sentences in naturalistic production, even though this is a noted domain of weakness for school-age monolinguals with DLD. Accordingly, we sought to determine if there were differences in the use of complex sentences in conversational and narrative tasks between school-age sequential bilinguals with TD and with DLD at the early stages of L2 acquisition. We administered a conversation and a narrative task to 63 English L2 children with TD and DLD, aged 5–7 years with 2 years of exposure to the L2. Children had diverse first language backgrounds. The L2-TD and L2-DLD groups were matched for age, length of L2 exposure and general L2 proficiency (receptive vocabulary size). Language samples from both tasks were coded and analyzed for the use of complex versus simple sentences, for the distribution of complex sentence types, for clausal density and mean length of utterance (MLU). Complex sentences included coordinated clauses, sentential complement clauses, adverbial clauses and relative clauses. Using regression modelling and PERMANOVA, we found that the L2-TD group produced more complex sentences than the L2-DLD group, with coordinated clauses, adverbial clauses and relative clauses differing the most between the groups. Furthermore, the two groups differed for mean clausal density, but not for MLU, indicating that clausal density and MLU did not estimate identical morphosyntactic abilities. Individual variation in complex sentence production for L2-TD was predicted by longer L2 exposure and task; by contrast, for L2-DLD, it was predicted by older age. This study indicates that complex sentence production is an area of weakness for bilingual children with DLD, as it is for monolinguals with DLD. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

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Acquisition of Complex Sentences

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/0161-1461.1703.160 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 160-174 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Dorothy L. Tyack ◽

Robert H. Gottsleben

Keyword(s):

Data Analysis ◽

Direct Relationship ◽

Chronological Age ◽

Complex Sentence ◽

Normal Children ◽

Complex Sentences ◽

Mean Length Of Utterance

Language samples were collected from 110 linguistically normal children ages 1–8 to 4–9. Data analysis indicated a direct relationship between chronological age, mean length of utterance, and percent of complex sentences. Analysis of the complex sentences in each sample indicated subcategories for each type of complexity. These subcategories appeared to have their own order of acquisition. When the children initially produced a certain type of complex sentence, they did not produce all of its subcategories. Often these remaining subcategories did not appear until after other types of embedding.

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Eye-Movement Patterns of Readers With Down Syndrome During Sentence-Processing: An Exploratory Study

American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities ◽

10.1352/1944-7558-115.3.193 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 115 (3) ◽

pp. 193-206 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Cheryl Frenck-Mestre ◽

Nathalie Zardan ◽

Annie Colas ◽

Alain Ghio

Keyword(s):

Down Syndrome ◽

Eye Movements ◽

Sentence Processing ◽

Exploratory Study ◽

Matched Control ◽

Reading Level ◽

Control Group ◽

Future Studies ◽

Complex Sentences ◽

Simple Sentences

Abstract Eye movements were examined to determine how readers with Down syndrome process sentences online. Participants were 9 individuals with Down syndrome ranging in reading level from Grades 1 to 3 and a reading-level-matched control group. For syntactically simple sentences, the pattern of reading times was similar for the two groups, with longer reading times found at sentence end. This “wrap-up” effect was also found in the first reading of more complex sentences for the control group, whereas it only emerged later for the readers with Down syndrome. Our results provide evidence that eye movements can be used to investigate reading in individuals with Down syndrome and underline the need for future studies.

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Complex Syntax Production of African American Preschoolers

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/1092-4388(2001/086) ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 44 (5) ◽

pp. 1083-1096 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Sandra C. Jackson ◽

Joanne E. Roberts

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Home Environment ◽

American English ◽

African American English ◽

Environment Factors ◽

Complex Syntax ◽

The Mean ◽

American Children ◽

Mean Length Of Utterance

This study examined changes in the complex syntax production of 85 3- and 4-year-old African American children and the role of child (i.e., gender, age, African American English) and family (i.e., home environment) factors. The mean percentage of utterances containing one or more complex syntax forms was 6.2% at 3 years and 11.7% at 4 years. Girls produced more complex syntax forms than did boys. Complex syntax production increased significantly between age 3 and age 4 and correlated positively with mean length of utterance in words. Children from more responsive and stimulating home environments produced more complex syntax at 4 years. African American English was not related to the amount of complex syntax used.

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Syntax from and for discourse II: More on complex sentences as meso-constructions

Yearbook of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association ◽

10.1515/gcla-2018-0006 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 115-142 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Beate Hampe ◽

Stefan Th. Gries

Keyword(s):

Multinomial Regression ◽

Complex Sentence ◽

Spoken English ◽

Complex Sentences ◽

Corpus Linguistic ◽

Linguistic Research ◽

Adverbial Clauses ◽

Syntactic Properties ◽

Adverbial Clause ◽

Temporal Adverbial

Abstract This paper presents a direct continuation of preceding corpus-linguistic research on complex sentence constructions with temporal adverbial clauses in a cognitive and usage-based framework (Diessel 2008; Hampe 2015). Working towards a more systematic construction-based account of complex sentences with before-, after-, until- and once-clauses in spontaneously spoken English, Hampe (2015) hypothesised that the morpho-syntactic realisations of configurations with initial adverbial clauses systematically diverge from those of configurations with final ones as a reflection of the specific functionality of each and that usage properties that are found across instantiations with a coherent functional load are retained in the schematisations creating constructions. This paper employs a multinomial regression in order to test to which extent each of eight closely related complex-sentence constructions with either initial or final before-, after-, until- and once-clauses can be predicted from the realisation of a few key morpho-syntactic properties of the respective adverbial and matrix clauses involved. The results support an analysis of complex-sentence constructions as meso-constructions that are not only specific about the subordinator and the positioning of the adverbial clause, but also retain “traces” of characteristic usage properties.

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