Child Language Development

I. Can we define " Possible Disorder" in UG? 1. Deficit = deviance unlike a Delay 2.Missed Formal Feature Hypothesis = Premature fixation of lexical item II. Missed Formal Features and Normal Lexical acquisition A. Why does normal child not say: " Me can do it" => learn Nominative => change to "I can do it" B. Normal Child: Maximize Formal Features 1) I saw the boy => [the: +sing,+masc,+def,+acc] ich sah den Mann 2) The girls arrived => delete: ,masc,sing, acc German: no change (den => correct (idealized)) C . Normal acquisition of Modal: can => modal meaning => Understood before used search for Tense, Agr, Case, Selection properties " John can sing" => no case information 1. Constraint on Normal Acquisition: Do not insert item into grammar until all domains checked D. Deficit Grammar: fix item in grammar without AGR or CASE E. Dialect: AGREEMENT present as Universal Grammar Option => Check each domain separately => AAE requires nominative in "I can sing" AGR carrried by Modal "categories lacking interpretability should be disallowed"(Chomsky (1998)) a. Conclusion: [-interpretable] => Formal Features (AGR, Case) E. . General Hypothesis: Fix lexical item without [-Interpretable features] 1. In productive grammar => No Retreat (Clahsen, Vainikka, Eisenbeiss (1994)

Experimental evidence on pronoun resolution has shown that speakers have difficulties in interpreting referential cues and anaphora biases. Our study tested L1 German and highly proficient L2 speakers (with L1 Georgian) and targeted factors which might differentially impact the resolution of ambiguous object pronouns in these two populations. Specifically, we examined grammatical role parallelism and asked to what extent L2 speakers differ from L1 speakers in forming grammatical dependencies. Eyemovement results revealed a bias towards the subject antecedent in L1, while the L2 showed object preference when resolving the referent of the object pronoun. Offline tests supported the eye-tracking findings of both groups. Grammatical role parallelism occurs to be a more prominent cue in the L2 compared to the L1.

Let’s utilize as our point of departure the classic Berko’s ‘Wugs Test’ (1958) which forced us to reexamine previously held assumptions regarding linguistic theory: 
(1) firstly, by dismantling the very naïve theory of language acquisition and usage as mere imitation [X] > [X] (sound to meaning);
(2) secondly,  by weakening imitation only to replace it within similar behavioristic assumptions based on analogy [W[XYZ]]>[V[XYZ]] ([_[ing]]>[_ [ang]]>[_ [ung]] (sing, sang, sung > *bring>brang>brung) (cf. and therefore attempting to explaining-away the Wugs test by simple sound analogy:  [_ [ug]] ({-Pl}> [_[ugs]]) {+Pl}, ([b[ug]]> [b[ugs]]);
(3) thirdly, to ultimately delivering a generative computational assumption of language X+Y=Z (e.g., [N] + {s} = +Plural (etc.), this latter analysis being free from +Frequency sensitivity and/or semantics.

Çocuk sözlüğü, ana dilin sözel zenginliğinin gelişmesine yardımcı olur ve dil edinim süreçlerinde önemli rol oynar. Çoğu dilde bu tür sözlükler bulunmasına rağmen, Arap kütüphanesi çocuk sözlüklerinden neredeyse tamamen yoksundur. Çünkü mevcut sözlükler eğitimsel veya kolaylaştırılmış sözlükler olarak sınıflandırılır. Bu çalışma ise böyle bir sözlüğün önemine ve ihtiyacına dikkat çekmek için Arapça çocuk sözlüğüne kaynak olabilecek dilsel bir derleme oluşturmayı amaçlamaktadır. Araştırmada, derlemenin materyallerinin hazırlama aşamasında erken, orta ve geç çocukluk dönemlerindeki çocuklara hitap eden Arapça metinlerden yararlanılmıştır. Ayrıca, yazı boyunca temel verileri gösterebilmek için istatistiksel analiz yöntemleri ve doğal dil işleme araçları da kullanılmıştır. Çalışma, çocuklar için dil derlemesi oluşturmaya yönelik medodik bir vizyon sunmayı, bununla beraber sözlük boyunca sözlüksel bilgilerin dağılımına dair bir fikir önermeyi hedeflemektedir. Çalışma genel olarak Arap dilinde yeni 1040 Almoataz B. Al-Said bir dil kaynağı teklif etmiş, bu kaynağın inşa ve geliştirilmesine yönelik yöntem belirlemiş ve Arap çocuklarının yaş gruplarına uygun üç sözlük modeli örneği sunmuştur.

In this paper, we present an attempt at developing a POS annotated corpus for Egyptian children.Linguistic annotation of the corpora provides researchers with better means for exploring the development of grammatical constructions and their usage.This is an initial annotated corpus for Egyptian children. It implements part of speech tag (POS) especially a morphologically annotated corpus of spoken Arabic child language.POS are made in "%mor" 'morphology' tiers manually. Coding language transcripts for computer analysis is a daunting task. It approximately took 170 hours, and thus manual annotation focused on a particular child.The POS coding process started with a purely manually annotation of 2701words. 1380 words annotated for an adultand 1321 annotated words for the child was handled. Annotated child language proved to be challenging, and time consuming task.The MOR grammar exists in many languages, such as English, French, German, Japanese, Cantonese, Hebrew, and they are generated automatically, the CLAN has the automatic coding system "MOR program". In Egyptian Arabic, this is not applied for two reasons. First, there is no previous Egyptian Arabic work done on a constructing system for such a representation. Second, morphology of Egyptian Arabic is very rich and different from other languages. Thus, their rules cannot be applied to Arabic. In the two Arabic studies of Qatari and Emirati languages, semiautomatic and mini automatic MOR is used.Finally,certain applications of linguistic analysis commands are provided by using CLAN software. The analyses include frequency counts, word searches, co-occurrence analyses; MLU (mean length of utterance) counts and analyzes specified pairs of utterances. Transcript data provide some morphological analysis, such as mean length of utterance (MLU) counts, lexical analysis, such as frequency (FREQ) count, syntactic analysis, such as searching the data for specified combinations of words or complex string patterns (COMBO) count, as well as the discourse and interactional analysis, such as analyzes specified pairs of utterances (CHIP) count.

2003, IULC): This book is an extensive revision of my doctoral dissertation, submitted to the University of Essex in 1999. While the arguments presented herein are identical to those of the dissertation-namely, arguments which lend themselves to more traditional theories concerning the nature of language development-many of the findings could be recast to contribute to the series of debates now being waged regarding the 'Dual Mechanism Model' (see Clahsen 1999, Pinker 1999 for a review). For instance, attested disparities development/chronological onsets between the morphological processing of (rote-learned) irregular versus (rule based) regular verbs (evidenced in so-called 'u-shaped learning') may likewise spill-over and reflect the protracted development of more formal computational processes related to the emergence of functional categories (particularly the development of IP). Generally speaking, I believe the findings presented in this book add considerable support to the idea that children may indeed begin their very early stages of syntactic development much in the same way as they begin their phonological development-that is, initially, by primitive and robust means of establishing some type of first order associations linking 'form' to 'meaning', whether it be regarding, for example (i) the treatment of syllabi whole chunks that the child processes in early word production/recognition (postponing a phonetic based segmental process to a second stage of development), or, as this study shows, (ii) the treatment of non-syntactic processing where formulaic chunks and or lexical redundancy rules are the order of the day (and likewise postponing a 'pure' rule-based syntactic process to a second stage of development).

One of the leading questions burning in the minds of most developmental linguists is: To what extent do biological factors such as brain maturation play a role in the early stages of syntactic development? The proposed theoretical framework-a 'Merge-based Theory' of Child Language Acquisition-is applied here to the earliest observable stages of child syntax which demonstrates a complete absence of movement operations. The working hypothesis throughout these essays is that young children's syntactic parsers-as delimited by neurological underdevelopment, perhaps specifically pegged to the basal ganglia region of the brain-are initially unable to advance MOVE up the syntactic tree (whereby MOVEment would thus save the derivation from being sent off immediately to early semantic transfer). Hence, we might suggest, as a metaphor of sorts owing to this lack of movement, that 'Small children's sentences are "Dead on Arrival"' (as the author claims elsewhere, JCLAD, 2015, vol. 3). The general tenor of these essays-coupled with findings relevant to discussions of 'How the brain works' (both at algorithmic and neuro-network levels)-supports an initial 'merge-only' stage of child syntax which can account for a rather wide spectrum of implications leading to the impoverished state of early child syntax. Using Chomsky's current Minimalist Program (MP) framework, Joseph Galasso adopts a 'Merge-based Theory' of child syntax. Given 'neuro-maturational' delay of MOVE, one can account for inter alia, mixed word order, lack of inflection, and misreading of syntactic compounds as found in the data. This new volume of essays can be seen as a follow-up to the author's earlier 2024 volume 'Speaking Brains' (04, LSNL). The essays provide extended insight into the aforementioned volume by expanding on topics related to neurocircuitry, artificial intelligence, as well as the very recursive nature of MOVE itself, as it relates to child development. Contents: 1. A Brief Note on Dynamic Antisymmetry, 'Merge-based Theory', and its Implications to Early Child English Possessive {'s} and the Setting of Word Order. 2. 'Problems of Projection': A Note on Chomsky's (2013) Lingua paper. 3. Remarks on a Minimalist Approach to Early Child Syntax. 4. A Note on Artificial Intelligence and the critical recursive implementation: The lagging problem of 'background knowledge'. 5. Why Move? Preliminary Thoughts and Overview: <> How 'Merge over Move' informs Early Child Syntax. Auch diese Kategorien durchsuchen: New titles, LINCOM Studies in Neurolinguistics (LSNL)

The development of pre-service teachers to teaching career are enhance through a field study. Field study is one of the major courses of pre-service teachers in which they are exposed to teaching environment in a school setting. Pre-service teachers are exposed to different teaching-learning process in a different classrooms and class subjects to observe how teaching takes place. This study aim to gather perceptions of the pre-service teachers during their field study observations and investigate the factors that affect their field study observations through survey and descriptive research. Using structured and unstructured questionnaires, twenty five (25) students enrolled in field study 6 “On Becoming a Teacher” and field study 5 “Learning Assessment Strategies were taken as respondents of the study. From the data gathered, analysis revealed that the demographic profile of the respondents are mostly 18-20 years old, single, parents educational attainment were baccalaureate degree ...

Diese Studie untersucht die sprachlichen Fähigkeiten von zweisprachigen und einsprachigen Kindern, mit einem besonderen Fokus auf ihre Verstehensprozesse bei Hörspielen. Im Rahmen der Untersuchung wurden sowohl kognitive als auch linguistische Aspekte der beiden Gruppen betrachtet, um Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten in ihrer Fähigkeit, Hörtexte zu verstehen und zu verarbeiten, herauszuarbeiten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass zweisprachige Kinder in bestimmten kognitiven Bereichen, wie der Informationsverarbeitung und dem Perspektivenwechsel, überlegen sind, während einsprachige Kinder eine stärkere und stabilere Beherrschung der grammatischen Strukturen ihrer Muttersprache aufweisen. Die Studie trägt zur Erkenntnis bei, dass die bilinguale Entwicklung nicht nur die sprachliche Flexibilität fördert, sondern auch die kognitiven Prozesse bei der Sprachverarbeitung beeinflusst. Die Ergebnisse bieten wichtige Implikationen für die Gestaltung von Sprachförderprogrammen und das Verständnis der sprachlichen Entwicklung von Kindern in mehrsprachigen Kontexten.

Development of the cerebral cortex may be affected by aberrant white matter development. Preterm birth with very low birth weight (VLBW) has been associated with reduced fractional anisotropy of white matter and changes in cortical thickness and surface area. We use a new methodological approach to combine white and gray matter data and test the hypothesis that white matter injury is primary, and acts as a mediating factor for concomitant gray matter aberrations, in the developing VLBW brain. T1 and dMRI data were obtained from 47 young adults born preterm with VLBW and 73 term-born peers (mean age ¼ 26). Cortical thickness was measured across the cortical mantle and compared between the groups, using the FreeSurfer software suite. White matter pathways were reconstructed with the TRACULA software and projected to their cortical end regions, where cortical thickness was averaged. In the VLBW group, cortical thickness was increased in anteromedial frontal, orbitofrontal, and occipital regions, and fractional anisotropy (FA) was reduced in frontal lobe pathways, indicating compromised white matter integrity. Statistical mediation analyses demonstrated that increased cortical thickness in the frontal regions was mediated by reduced FA in the corpus callosum forceps minor, consistent with the notion that white matter injury can disrupt frontal lobe cortical development. Combining statistical mediation analysis with pathway projection onto the cortical surface offers a powerful novel tool to investigate how cortical regions are differentially affected by white matter injury.

Merge is inextricably linked to Dynamic Antisymmetry (DA)insofar that any exclusive ‘merge-only’ stage would only support a strictly symmetric/unordered SET{α,β} (where higher functional features would not project and where word order would remain variable). Antisymmetry (non-mirror structures), leading to the formulation of hierarchical fixed word order, as expressed in Moro’s work on DA. Labelling, along with fixed word order can only come about via displacement properties having to do with
recursive MOVE, projecting a subsequent structure-dependent PAIR<α, β> whilst
dispensing with the former structure-independent SET{α,β}. This shift from SET to
PAIR can only arise via MOVE. (SET{α, β} → PAIR <α, <α, β>>)

Some animacy configurations elicit parallel semantic interference in adult production and comprehension; for example, phrases with similar animate nouns like the man that the girl is hugging are more difficult than phrases like the doll that the girl is hugging. Yet little is known about how this interference manifests in development, particularly, beyond early childhood. Because frontal brain maturation and cognitive control improvements are known to occur across late childhood and adolescence, we investigated (a) how animacyinduced difficulty in production and comprehension vary with age throughout this period and (b) whether control processes reflected in the backward digit span (BDS) test uniquely explained these differences besides other language measures. In separate tasks, participants (8-to 15-year-old children; N = 91) heard auditory descriptions of depicted characters, produced characters' descriptions, and completed BDS, vocabulary, and reading experience tests. Results indicated that, as in adults, animacy modulated performance in production and comprehension across all ages. The animacy modulation interacted with age in production but not in comprehension, suggesting age-related animacy differences in production but relatively stable differences in comprehension despite processing speed improvements. Importantly, these age-related production differences were also modulated by the BDS scores; only participants with higher BDS scores displayed age-related animacy differences. Together, these results indicate that comprehension and production develop at different rates and that the development of BDS performance interacts with age-dependent changes in sentence planning from late childhood to adolescence.

There is a widespread view concerning the acquisition of binding, which holds that young children do not have knowledge of Principle B of the binding theory (BT) (see Lust (1986) for a review). In this article we challenge this position. We argue that the evidence merely ...

The most general case of lack of label is successive-cyclic movement. [2]. The intermediate steps are of the form , where XP can be for example a wh-phrase with YP a CP. [3]. The syntactic object α cannot be labeled, but it must be interpreted, if only for theta-marking. [4]. If XP raises, then α will be labeled Y, as required. [5]. Therefore XP must raise, and successive cyclic movement is forced]. [1]. [The most general case of lack of label is successive-cyclic movement].

We sought to clarify the commonly accepted link between music training and cognitive ability. Professional musicians, non-professionals with music training, and musically untrained individuals (N = 642) completed measures of musical ability, personality, and general cognitive ability. Professional musicians scored highest on objective and self-report measures of musical ability. On personality measures, professional musicians and musically trained participants scored similarly but higher than untrained participants on agreeableness, openness-to-experience, and the personality metatrait stability. The professionals scored higher than the other two groups on extraversion and the metatrait engagement. On cognitive ability, however, they were indistinguishable from untrained participants. Instead, musically trained non-professionals exhibited the highest cognitive ability. In short, professional musicians differed from other individuals in musical ability and personality, but not in cognitive ability. We conclude that music training predicts higher cognitive ability only among individuals who do not become professional musicians, and offer possible explanations.

Bu araştırmanın amacı okul öncesi dönemde işitme yetersizliği olan çocukların erken okuryazarlık becerilerinin geliştirilmesindeki uygulamaları incelemektir. Araştırma durum çalışması olarak desenlenmiş, veriler yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme ve gözlem formu kullanılarak toplanmıştır. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu 8 okul öncesi, 8 özel eğitim öğretmeni oluşturmaktadır. Veriler tümevarımsal bir yaklaşımla içerik analizi yöntemi kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Sonuç olarak araştırmaya katılan öğretmenler erken okuryazarlığı tanımlarken ilkokula hazırlanmaya odaklanmışlardır. Öğretmenler erken okuryazarlığın gelişimi için önkoşul bilgi, beceri ve yaşantılara sahip olunması gerektiğini vurgulamışlardır. İşitme yetersizliği olan çocuklara erken okuryazarlık becerilerinin geliştirilmesi etkinliklerinde öğretmenlerin daha çok kitapları kullanarak etkileşimli kitap okuma yaptıkları sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Çalışmanın sonuçları alanyazın doğrultusunda tartışılarak işitme yetersizliği olan çocuklarının erken okuryazarlık becerileri ile ilgili farkındalık çalışmalarının yapılması, bu çocukların erken cihazlandırılması için ailelere yönelik biliçlendirilme çalışmalarının yapılması ve ileriki araştırmalara yönelik önerilerde bulunulmuştur.

Tra il secondo e il terzo anno di età, la produzione linguistica del
bambino diventa sempre più complessa in virtù delle regole linguistiche
che inizia a filtrare dall’input linguistico fornito dai suoi interlocutori
per applicarle alle proprie produzioni. In questa fase, il bambino inizia
ad utilizzare varie strategie e meccanismi, copiandoli dagli adulti, per
iniziare a padroneggiare strutture sempre più ampie e complesse. Se alla
complessità del processo di apprendimento accostiamo la complessità di
una realtà linguistica come quella istriana e il desiderio di analizzarne
le forme dialettali dell’istroveneto, non ancora codificate in maniera
sistematica, ci troviamo davanti a un argomento ampio ed articolato
che in questo frangente si è voluto affrontare esclusivamente dal punto
di vista dell’analisi linguistica per indagare sui meccanismi applicati dai
bambini nell’apprendimento dell’istroveneto come lingua madre. I risultati
di questo studio di caso vanno paragonati alle produzioni linguistiche di altri bambini della stessa età per confermare o confutare la condivisione
delle strategie anche da parte di altri parlanti dell’istroveneto come lingua
madre.

Bu araştırmada ülkemizde yaygın bir şekilde kullandığı ortaya konulan Peabody Resim Kelime Testi, Türkçe Erken Dil Gelişimi Testi (TEDİL), Türkçe İfade Edici ve Alıcı Dil Kelime Testi (TİFALDİ) ve Okul Öncesi Dil Ölçeği (PLS-5)’nin alıcı dil veya işitsel algı alt boyutlarının semantik açıdan incelenmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Bu temel amaç ile uyumlu olarak araştırma
kapsamında nitel araştırma yaklaşımlarından doküman inceleme deseni kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın verileri içerik analizi yöntemi kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmanın güvenirliğini hesaplamak için Miles & Huberman (1994)’ın formülü kullanılmış; ve güvenirlik %90 olarak tespit edilmiştir. Araştırmanın sonucunda incelenen dört standart testte yer alan hedef
sözcüklerin isimler, eylemler ve kavramlar/sıfatlar arasından seçildiği ve sözcüklerin ilgili literatür ile uyumlu olduğu belirlenmiştir.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Okul öncesi, dil gelişimi, test, semantik.

A well-developed musical sensitivity requires a good working memory capacity in children. Primary aim of present study was to analyse the relationship between children's working memory and musical sensitivity. Children’s working memory consisted of phonological loop, visual spatial sketchpad, central executive function and long-term memory retrieval. In the study, children’s musical sensitivity was limited to their music perception skill and musical performance. Researcher was interested to know whether boys and girls differed or similar with respect to their working memory capacity, music perception skill and musical performance. The study was exploratory in nature and based on quantitative data. Investigator employed purposive sampling technique to select 20 girls and 20 boys of standard VII from a Bengali medium Government aided school in Howrah District, West Bengal, India. Several standardised tests were used to measure working memory capacity in children. ‘PROM-S’ tool was administered to examine children’s music perception skill. To measure children’s musical performance, investigator developed and standardized a musical performance test which was limited to singing songs mentioned in Bengali (L1) textbook prescribed by WBBSE, Kolkata. Pearson’s Product Moment correlation coefficients showed that there existed statistically significant positive correlations between children’s working memory, music perception skill and musical performance. Data analysis revealed that boys and girls did not differ in their working memory capacity, music perception skill and musical performance.

En el presente artículo se analiza el uso de los colores en los guiones audiodescritos de películas destinadas, principalmente, al público infantil. Para ello, se realiza una comparativa de la audiodescripción en español, italiano y polaco de las películas Leo y El Rey Mono, ambas de 2023, que se encuentran en el catálogo de Netflix. Con ello, se pretende un acercamiento a la problemática de audiodescribir los colores mediante la teoría de la relevancia de Wilson y Sperber.

This study aims to observe and describe the implementation of project based learning in elevating the students’ ability on writing and to know the students’ opinion of the implementation of project based learning in teaching writing. The participants of the research were 20 students of Rumah Belajar English Course. The collected data were obtained through observation, writing test and interview. The data were taken while this English course’s teaching and learning process was ongoing. In analyzing the data, this study used a descriptive qualitative method. The data were presented informally in the form of words, phrases, and clauses. As result, it was found that the implementation of project-based learning in teaching writing worked well. It could be seen from the students’ responses during the implementation of this method as they gave positive opinion toward the method used; they actively involved in the learning process. Besides, the project given engaged the students in solving a real problem and answering it.

This study aims at exploring in more detail the use of Duolingo in improving vocabulary mastery through Self-Regulated Learning. It is also essential to find out the advantages of using Duolingo through Self Regulated Learning. The data for this research was taken from Udayana University students who are not from the English Literature department. The data was collected through observation, tests, and interviews. Non- participatory observation techniques were used together with the note taking. Structured interview technique was also used in this study. The data were analyzed qualitatively and presented informally and descriptively. The results revealed that duolingo is a mobile assisted language learning that presents lessons across various skills with a series of short instructions that can enhance learners' vocabulary mastery through self- regulated learning.

Bedroom is a very private place, and the effect of color significantly influences the psychology of its occupants. Each occupant has unique personality traits, lifestyles, and needs. The age of the occupant also determines the choice of color. Every color has its own character and personality, distinguishing it from one another. Certain impressions on a person can even affect their feelings. The data collection technique for this research uses observation and documentation methods. The type of research for this study is qualitative with a case study approach, using Ms. Z's child's bedroom as the object. The aim of this research is to find the suitable color criteria for a child's bedroom. Ms. Z's child's bedroom applies a minimalist concept with a mix of green and white colors dominating every side, including the furniture used. The use of wooden materials on several sides creates a quite appealing impression for children.Thebenefits of this research for interior designers include understanding how certain colors affect the quality of children's sleep, which can help designers choose color palettes that support restful sleep. For the public, this research can help parents understand how certain colors can influence their child's mood, behavior, and emotional well-being

The background of this study is based on the results of initial study data which shows the condition of children's ability to communicate in language is still limited in TK Negeri Pembina I Maba, East Halmahera Regency, so this study aims to find out a better picture of language skills in children with storytelling learning methods. The research method used classroom action research (PTK) to improve existing learning practices. Class B students are the subjects in this study. The research was carried out at TK Negeri Pembina I Maba which was carried out sequentially in three stages of meetings in three cycles. Each cycle is divided into four phases, namely planning, implementation, observation, and reflection. How to collect data in this study through observation / field notes, interviews, and documentation. The results showed that there was an increase in the results in the form of increasing language skills in early childhood at TK Negeri Pembina I Maba, namely in the initial condition of 31.2%, increased in Cycle I to 60.3% and Cycle II increased to 75.3%. And in cycle III it increased to 85.5%. It can be concluded that the use of the storytelling method in the teaching and learning process can develop language skills in young children at TK Negeri Pembina I Maba, East Halmahera Regency.

Between September and December 2023, Babylonia collected questions from parents regarding their children’s language development. This article aims to answer the following questions:
– What are some red flags (signs) for potential communication disorder?
– How can I differentiate between language difficulties and learning disabilities?
– How can I foster strong communication skills in children with communication disorders?
– What resources or therapies are there for children with language delays?

In this chapter we present current issues on experimental methods in the study of atypical language development with a focus on developmental language disorders (DLD). We first present a short history of terminology surrounding DLD and follow this with a discussion of critical topics related to DLD assessment including cross-linguistic research, multilingualism, persisting disorders in teenagers, age-differences (pre-school, school age, adolescence, and adults) in manifestations and domains studied, language comprehension versus production, and cognitive assessment. We also bring focus to the question of matching control groups in the study of atypical language development. We present the most common methods used in the investigation of language impairments from the behavioural and neurocognitive perspectives. We provide an overview of the issues related to establishing equivalence between groups with and without language impairments. We conclude with recommendations for practice and future directions in the study of atypical language development.

A diverse group of child clinicians (n — 39) rated paragraph-long transcriptions of two Euro-American, two African-American, and two Latino children&#39;s oral narratives. Clinicians were asked to rate the logic, cohesion, and comprehensibility of the stories using 6-point scales. They were also asked to give a rough estimate of the children&#39;s IQ, to comment on the existence of emotional/behavioral and/or learning/language problems, and to assign possible diagnoses. The results indicated clinicians&#39; ratings of the Latino narratives were significantly different from ratings of the Euro-American and African-American narratives, as confirmed by Scheffe post hoc analysis. Diagnoses revealed a distribution by ethnicity of children. Euro-Americans received 21 diagnoses, African-Americans received 33 diagnoses, and Latinos received 53 diagnoses. Further, clinicians&#39; ethnicity and gender did not account for any group differences. The implications of these findings are twofold. F...

We introduce a project focused on developing a multilingual database of Australian children's English and Heritage Language (HL) speech, starting with Spanish and adding other HLs progressively. Leveraging the technology and expertise from the AusKidTalk corpus [1], our database currently comprises approximately 610 hours of speech from children aged 3-7 years who speak English only or English and Spanish. Data were collected through online testing sessions featuring eight psycholinguistic tasks designed to elicit both single-word, sentence, and short story productions. This paper outlines the key features, design, data collection and analysis method, as well as the repository storage for data management. The aim is to facilitate linguistic research on language development in monolingual and multilingual Australian children. In this paper, we showcase the database, discuss the analyses conducted so far, and outline projects that have already used the database as well as future related projects. Additionally, we will detail our current data management plan and share our vision for collaborating with the broader research community.

Expressive Language Disorder (ELD) is a condition that affects a child's ability to produce language despite having normal cognitive and comprehension skills. This study explores the characteristics of ELD and its relationship with social interaction in early childhood from a psycholinguistic perspective. By examining how language abilities, such as vocabulary usage, sentence construction, and grammatical accuracy, influence social engagement, the study provides insights into the connection between language development and interaction. Through a qualitative approach, the research focuses on identifying patterns in language use and social behaviors among children with ELD. This paper aims to contribute to a understanding of the psycholinguistic aspects of ELD and its relevance to early childhood development, providing a foundation for further study in this field.

Achieving adult-like coarticulation, which relies on precise gestural coordination, is known to be a challenging aspect of phonological development. Unique coordination challenges are posed by doubly articulated stops, typologically uncommon complex consonants that show crosslinguistic variation in their acoustic contrast with simplex (singly articulated) consonants. We examined the acoustics and development of complex-simplex stop contrasts between labio-velars (/k͡p/, /g͡b/) and bilabials (/p/, /b/) in Gã (Niger-Congo, Kwa), with special attention to coarticulation with adjacent sonorants. We found that Gã adults mostly produced differences in voice onset time and closure duration to implement these contrasts, and Gã five-year-olds also produced differences in these dimensions. Crucially, however, five-year-olds also produced significant differences in onset formants, which adults did not. These findings provide evidence of age-graded variation in the implementation of complex-simplex stop contrasts in Gã, suggesting that over the course of development there may be a shift away from production of carryover coarticulatory differences toward greater reliance on durational differences. We argue that children's initial reliance on carryover coarticulation capitalizes on a tendency toward greater consonant-vowel coarticulation as compared to adults, discussing implications for our understanding of how coarticulation develops.

This study asks whether and how the features that define a language variety co-vary within the communities and speakers said to be representative of it. Of particular interest is the relationship between multiple variable in a setting known to promote contact-induced language change. The central idea that emerges here is that less salient linguistic variables are more likely to co-vary, that is, to be uniformly influenced by the contact setting, than are variables of higher salience. This claim is supported by an analysis of five variables in the speech of four Spanish-speaking adults, two of whom have lived their entire lives in the contact setting and two who are recent arrivals to it. The variables are (1) filled pauses, (2) the presence vs. absence of subject pronouns, (3) subject pronoun position (i.e., pre-vs. post-verbal), (4) general subject position (the pre-or post-verbal position of non-pronominal subjects, e.g. lexical NPs, clauses, etc.), and (5) coda /s/ weakening, examined in terms of rates of deletion as well two acoustic parameters. It is only with respect to the last of these features, which is highly salient sociolinguistically, that strong regionally delineated continuity in the Spanish of the U.S. born speakers is clearly observed. The four lower salience features have shifted in parallel, increasing in similarity to the use of analogous features in English. These results indicate that in a setting characterized by language contact, the fate of socio-linguistic variables is mediated by salience. Low salience features are more susceptible to the influence of the contact setting and are more likely to be uniformly reshaped by it. High salience features, in contrast, are differentiated by speakers' greater awareness of their social signaling potential and are more likely to unfold along autonomous and individuated trajectories.

Lexical frequency clearly plays a role in shaping the developing grammar, as frequent forms are acquired earlier and processed more easily than infrequent forms (Ellis 2012, Lieven 2010). Nevertheless, little is known about how frequency affects morphosyntactic variation during acquisition. This study examines the influence of frequency of verb forms on subject pronoun expression (e.g. yo canto ~ canto) in sociolinguistic interviews conducted with 12 second language learners of Spanish. Analyses of 980 verb forms indicate that frequency effects are dependent on L2 proficiency. During earlier stages of acquisition, frequency has a direct impact on pronoun expression: learners express pronouns more often with frequent than with infrequent verbs. This finding suggests that, in the face of the heavier cognitive burden presented by infrequent forms, learners with lower levels of proficiency tend to omit linguistic material. During more advanced stages of acquisition, however, frequency p...

The preschool years, ages 3 and 4, are extremely important for children's social, emotional, physical, as well as language and literacy development. Children's development can be affected by high-quality experiences that can improve later academic and social competence (Barnett, 1995; Morrow, 2000, Dickinson, 2001). Preschools make a difference in children's lives; therefore, every 3- and 4-year old should have access to free, high-quality, public preschools.  High-quality preschools embrace approaches to literacy experiences delivered by well-prepared, knowledgeable, and caring preschool High quality preschools can ensure that all children are prepared for school and are developing literacy skills.

The scientific research of the service-learning has consolidated a powerful line of work that extends its practice in the classrooms of the national universities through the actions of solidarity service associated to the curriculum, developed in communities of students, faculties and community partners. Although international research shows a significant amount of contents focused on the benefits of applying this methodology in higher education students and their communities, there’s a dangerous shortage of literature about the many ethical challenges involved in this educational task, and significant influence of scientific production in English language in the field. Therefore, there is an urgent need to establish a state of the art on the subject, and identify aspects of production written in Anglo-Saxon language that could benefit in the Ibero-American context. The purpose of this study is to know the scientific production of the field of ethics related to the Service-Learning ...

This article presents an algorithmic model for the determination of the most likely location of the nuclear accent within an intonation phrase (IP). First, different accounts of nuclearity are reviewed. Then, a model is proposed by which nuclearity is evaluated through a procedure with binary decision nodes. The starting point is the assumption that the nuclear pitch accent will fall on the last lexical item in the IP. Each step in the model involves a decision node. A cognitive device, the selector, is proposed as the seat of decision-making. The selector follows an algorithmic path involving an online weighing of semantic load for each lexical item. The assessment of informational status of words is made on the basis of the context and previous knowledge or assumptions. Items which are tagged as old information do not receive accents. The assessment is performed leftwards from the rightmost lexical item in successive iterations or loops until the best candidate for the nuclear accent is found. Finally, some caveats and limitations are considered.

This paper opens with a story of what was once cutting-edge, state-of-the-art technology and its integration into preservice teacher preparation. It is a story of the technology, in this case video recording, the theories applied to its educational use, and a specific teacher training method-microteaching. The historical context of microteaching with video recording feedback is presented. The further evolution of this technology in self-reflective methods is explored by considering the combination of inner development of the individual teacher with the outer, critical examination of social contexts of teaching. The final part of the paper constructs a critical framework for utilizing both inner, self-reflective models of video feedback with models of critical video ethnography, used in overseas educational development work in Africa, that examine situational practice. The paper explores the theory foundation of these models in search of common principles to inform the practical use of video in new models of critical inquiry and reflection in professional development. (Contains 17 references.)