The use of grammatical morphemes reflecting aspect and modality by children with specific language impairment

Abstract

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) have well-documented problems in the use of tense-related grammatical morphemes. However, in English, tense often overlaps with aspect and modality. In this study, 15 children with SLI (mean age 5;2) and two groups of 15 typically developing children (mean ages 3;6 and 5;3) were compared in terms of their use of previously studied morphemes in contexts that more clearly assessed the role of aspect. The children's use of less frequently studied morphemes tied to modality or tense was also examined. The children with SLI were found to use -ing to mark progressive aspect in past as well as present contexts, even though they were relatively poor in using the tense morphemes (auxiliary was, were) that should accompany the progressive inflection. These children were inconsistent in their use of third person singular -s to describe habitual actions that were not occurring during the time of their utterance. However, the pattern of the children's use suggested that the source of the problem was the formal tense feature of the inflection, not the habitual action context. The children's use of modal can was comparable to that of the typically developing children, raising the possibility that the modality function of possibility had been learned without necessarily acquiring the tense feature of this morpheme. These children's proficiency with can suggests that their bare verb stem productions should probably not be re-interpreted as cases of missing modals. Together these findings suggest that the more serious tense-related problems seen in English-speaking children with SLI co-occur with a less impaired ability to express temporal relations through aspect and modality.

Sensitivity to Morphosyntactic Information in 3-Year-Old Children With Typical Language Development: A Feasibility Study

“…Previous studies of auxiliary be forms with TD children in this age range show percentages of use in obligatory contexts to be approximately 70% or higher (Leonard et al, 2003;Rice, Wexler, & Cleave, 1995). In each of these studies, these children were found to produce auxiliary is and are with higher percentages in obligatory contexts than the 5-year-old children with SLI with whom they were matched on mean length of utterance.…”

“…In each of these studies, these children were found to produce auxiliary is and are with higher percentages in obligatory contexts than the 5-year-old children with SLI with whom they were matched on mean length of utterance. We accordingly set our selection criterion at 70% use, measuring degree of use through the auxiliary production probe task used by Leonard et al (2003) with 10 auxiliary is items and 10 auxiliary are items. Actions with toys and props were shown to children, and, as the action was occurring, the children were prompted to complete a declarative sentence beginning with either a singular or plural noun phrase as in "Tell me about the babies.…”

Morphology and Syntax in Late Talkers at Age 5

“…Specifically, children with SLI appear to have morphological deficits that are greater than their MLUs would typically predict (Leonard, Davis, & Deevy, 2007;Maillart & Parisse, 2006). Specific weaknesses within SLI verb morphology identified include the underuse of past tense -ed (Leonard et al, 2007) and past tense auxiliaries such as was and were (Leonard, Deevy, Miller, Charest, & Kurtz, 2003;Rice & Wexler, 1996), as well as inconsistent use of third person -s. In addition, children with SLI are more likely than TD peers to omit the nonfinite particle to, arguments in finite clauses, and the optional complementizer that (Owen & Leonard, 2006). Children with SLI show such marked morphology deficits that some have proposed them as a clinical marker for the condition (Rice, Wexler, & Hershberger, 1998).…”

A method for assessing the use of first person verb forms by preschool-aged children with SLI

“…Children's use of auxiliary am was explored by adapting a probe task used by Leonard et al (2003) to elicit auxiliary is, are, and was. The general task makes use of a puppet theatre and 'shows' performed by characters.…”

“…To our knowledge, tasks of this sort have not yet been employed to elicit utterances requiring the use of first person verb forms such as auxiliary am. Indeed, studies that have examined auxiliary be forms in probes have focused instead on the morphemes is, are, was, and were (eg, Leonard et al, 2003).…”