Article published In: Language, Interaction and Acquisition
Vol. 8:2 (2017) ► pp.234–272
Towards the use of phonological markedness and extraprosodicity in accounting for morphological errors in Specific Language Impairment
Published online: 2 March 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.15029.ozc
https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.15029.ozc
Abstract
Certain grammatical morphemes are variably produced in the speech of children
with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Previous research tends to view this as
a consequence of either a deficit in linguistic knowledge or a limitation in
processing capacity; however, both approaches raise problems. For example,
linguistic accounts are unable to explain why these children’s problems are
mostly with production rather than comprehension. Processing accounts, on the
other hand, have difficulty explaining why affected children have differing
levels of problems with grammatical morphemes that are similar on the surface
(e.g. English plural -s vs. third person singular
-s). In this paper, a new, phonological account is proposed
which avoids these problems, and better captures the wide array of data
presented in the literature. It is proposed that children with SLI have problems
with organizing segmental data into prosodic structures that are linguistically
highly marked, in particular those that involve various forms of
extraprosodicity.
Résumé
Certains morphèmes grammaticaux sont produits de façon variable dans le parler
des enfants souffrant de dysphasie. En général, ce phénomène a été traité dans
les recherches antérieures comme le produit ou d’un manque de connaissances
linguistiques ou d’une limitation de la capacité de traitement. Ces deux
approches entraînent des problèmes. Par exemple, les approches linguistiques
sont incapables d’expliquer pourquoi les problèmes de ces enfants sont plutôt
des problèmes de production que de compréhension. Les approches basées sur le
traitement, par contre, ont des difficultés à expliquer pourquoi les enfants
ainsi affectés rencontrent divers niveaux de difficulté avec des morphèmes
grammaticaux qui se ressemblent superficiellement (p. ex.: le -s pluriel et le
-s de la troisième personne du singulier en anglais). Cette étude propose une
nouvelle approche phonologique qui évite ces problèmes et qui semble mieux
appréhender l’éventail varié des données présentes dans la littérature. On
propose que les enfants souffrant de dysphasie rencontrent des problèmes
d’organisation des données segmentées en structures extra-prosodiques qui
manifestent un niveau élevé de marque linguistique.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.SLI and theoretical issues
- 2.1Previous accounts of SLI
- 2.1.1Linguistic accounts
- 2.1.1.1The Extended Optional Infinitives Account (EOIA) and its successors
- 2.1.1.2The Agreement Deficit Model
- 2.1.1.3The Deficit in Computational Grammatical Complexity Model (CGC)
- 2.1.2Processing accounts
- 2.1.2.1The Surface Account
- 2.1.2.2The morphological richness account
- 2.1.2.3The phonological memory deficits account
- 2.1.1Linguistic accounts
- 2.2Problems with previous accounts
- 2.2.1Linguistic accounts
- 2.2.2Processing accounts
- 2.1Previous accounts of SLI
- 3.Current account
- 3.1Phonological markedness and extraprosodicity as a clinical marker of SLI
- 3.2Prosodic Phonology, extraprosodicity and markedness of various prosodic structures
- 3.3Prosodic status of morphemes problematic for SLI vs. other morphemes
- 3.4Main argument
- 4.Further discussion and cross-linguistic evidence
- 5.Conclusion
- Notes
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