Language Competence Across Populations: Toward a Definition of Specific Language Impairment

478 Pages·2002·38.28 MB·English

by  Yonata Levy

Language Competence
Across Populations
Toward a Definition
of Specific Language Impairment
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Language Competence
Across Populations
Toward a Definition
of Specific Language Impairment
Edited by
Yonata Levy
The Hebrew University
Jeannette Schaeffer
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
lw
LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS
2003 Mahwah, New Jersey London
Copyright 0 2003 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form,
by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other means, without
prior written permission of the publisher.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
10 Industrial Avenue
Mahwah, NJ 07430
I
Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey
Cover drawing of children communicating
by six-year-old Shire1 Libersat.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Language competence across populations : toward a definition of Specific
Language Impairment / edited by Yonata Levy, Jeannette Schaeffer.
p. cm.
Papers of a workshop held in the spring of 2000 in Jerusalem, hosted by the
Institute for Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN o-8058-3999-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
I. Specific language impairment in children-Congresses. 2. Learning
disabled children-Congresses. 3. Chidren-Language-Congresses.
I. Levy, Yonata. II. Schaeffer, Jeannette.
RJ496.L35 L355 2002
618.92’855-dc21 2002069204
CIP
Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-free
paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
Contents
Preface ix
Yonata Levy and Jeannette Schaeffer
PART A: LANGUAGE COMPETENCE ACROSS POPULATIONS 1
I The Characterization of Specific Language Impairment 3
An Introduction
Jeannette Schaeffer
1 Lenneberg’s Dream: Learning, Normal Language
Development, and Specific Language Impairment 11
Ken Wexler
2 A Unified Model of Specific and General Language
Delay: Grammatical Tense as a Clinical Marker
of Unexpected Variation 63
Mabel K. Rice
3 Two of a Kind? The Importance of Commonalities
and Variation Across Languages and Learners 95
Martha Crag0 and Johanne Paradis
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vi CONTENTS
4 Do Heterogeneous Deficits Require Heterogeneous Theories?
SLI Subgroups and the RDDR Hypothesis 109
Heather K. J. van der Lely
Pragmatics and SLI 135
Jeannette Schaeffer
Specific Language Impairment and Linguistic Explanation 151
Jan de Jong
The Role of Language Typology in Linguistic Development:
Implications for the Study of Language Disorders 171
Dorit Ravid, Ronit Levie, and Calit Avivi Ben-zvi
II Methodological Concerns 197
An Introduction
Gina Conti-Ramsden
Specific Language Impairment: Characterizing the Deficits 209
Laurence B. Leonard
Methodological Issues in Cross-Group Comparisons
of Language and Cognitive Development 233
Carolyn B. Mervis and Byron F. Robinson
10 MLU-matching and the Production of Morphosyntax
in Dutch Children with Specific Language Impairment 259
Gerard W. Bol
11 Different Methodologies Yield Incongruous Results:
A Study of the Spontaneous Use of Verb Forms in Hebrew 273
Esther Dromi, Laurence B. Leonard, and Anat Blass
III Language Competence in Children
with Neurodevelopmental Disorders 291
An Introduction
Yonata Levy
12 Language Impairment in Children with Complex
Neurodevelopmental Disorders: The Case of Autism 297
Helen Tager-Flusberg
CONTENTS vii
13 Words and Rules in Children with Williams Syndrome 323
Harald Clahsen and Christine Temple
14 Basic Language Skills in Children with Neurodevelopmental
Disorders and the Notion of Brain Plasticity 353
Yonata Levy
15 On the Complementarity of Signed and Spoken Languages 383
Wendy Sandier
PART B: TOWARD A DEFINITION OF SLI? 411
16 Understanding SLI: A Neuropsychological Perspective 413
Dorit Ben Shalom
17 Defining SLI: A Linguistic Perspective 425
Jill de Villiers
Author Index 427
Subject Index 463
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Preface
In spring 2000, the people whose work appears in this volume gathered in
the majestic city of Jerusalem for a workshop on language development
across populations. The title of the volume is indicative of the approach
that characterized the meeting. Our main concern was the variability seen
in human linguistic competence across populations of children, yet a ma-
jor focus of our discussion was the phenomenon of specific language im-
pairment (SLI). Although we acknowledge the challenges posed by SLI to
our understanding of the structure and function of human linguistic com-
petence, we also pay close attention to data concerning other populations
of children that suggest points of similarities with the classical SLI profile.
The composition of the chapters in this volume attests to this dual focus:
More than half the chapters are concerned with SLI, but the remainder (a
little less than half, yet still quite close in number) concentrates on lan-
guage in other nonstandard populations of children.
This volume brings to the fore intriguing findings concerning language
development in the populations studied. It discusses criteria for the defi-
nition of SLI, compares and contrasts SLI with profiles of children with
other disorders and dialects, and offers a comprehensive look on human
language, which ties together spoken and sign languages. Methodological
concerns that affect the credibility and generalizibility of the findings are
discussed and controversies between opposing linguistic approaches to
acquisition are presented. The common thread that gradually reveals it-
self is a theoretical issue of central importance to cognitive theory, as well