© American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Individual Differences in the Onset of Tense Marking: A Growth-Curve Analysis
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb
Contact author: Pamela A. Hadley, 618 Joanne Lane, DeKalb, IL 60115. E-mail: phadley{at}niu.edu Department of Communicative Disorders, Northern Illinois University, 323 Wirtz Hall, DeKalb, IL 60115. E-mail: phadley{at}niu.edu
The purpose of this study was to explore individual differences in children's tense onset growth trajectories and to determine whether any within- or between-child predictors could account for these differences. Twenty-two children with expressive vocabulary abilities in the low-average to below-average range participated. Sixteen children were at risk for specific language impairment (SLI), and 6 children had low-average language abilities. Spontaneous language samples, obtained at 3-month intervals between 2;0 and 3;0, were analyzed to examine change in a cumulative productivity score for 5 tense morphemes: third person singular present, past tense, copula BE, auxiliary BE, and auxiliary DO. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to model intercept and linear growth at 30 months and quadratic growth overall. A growth model that included mean length of utterance (MLU) and MLU growth better explained within-child productivity score growth trajectories than a parallel model with vocabulary and vocabulary growth. Significant linear growth in productivity scores remained even after a control for MLU was in place. When between-child predictors were added in the final conditional model, only positive family history approached statistical significance, improving the overall estimation of the model's growth parameters. The findings support theoretical models of language acquisition that claim relative independence of tense marking from other more general aspects of vocabulary development and sentence length. The trends for family history are also consistent with proposals implicating faulty genetic mechanisms underlying developmental language disorders. Systematic use of familial risk data is recommended in future investigations examining the relationship between late-talking children and children at risk for SLI.
KEY WORDS: late-talking children, specific language impairment, tense marking, grammatical development, growth modeling
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Delicious 
Digg 
Facebook 
Reddit 
Technorati 
Twitter What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  L.-Y. Guo, A. J. Owen Van Horne, and J. B. Tomblin The Role of Developmental Levels in Examining the Effect of Subject Types on the Production of Auxiliary Is in Young English-Speaking Children J Speech Lang Hear Res, December 1, 2011; 54(6): 1658 - 1666. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. R. Crais Testing and Beyond: Strategies and Tools for Evaluating and Assessing Infants and Toddlers Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch, July 1, 2011; 42(3): 341 - 364. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. Paul and F. P. Roth Characterizing and Predicting Outcomes of Communication Delays in Infants and Toddlers: Implications for Clinical Practice Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch, July 1, 2011; 42(3): 331 - 340. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. A. Hadley, M. Rispoli, C. Fitzgerald, and A. Bahnsen Predictors of Morphosyntactic Growth in Typically Developing Toddlers: Contributions of Parent Input and Child Sex J Speech Lang Hear Res, April 1, 2011; 54(2): 549 - 566. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. B. Oetting, B. L. Newkirk, L. R. Hartfield, C. G. Wynn, S. L. Pruitt, and A. W. Garrity Index of Productive Syntax for Children Who Speak African American English Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch, July 1, 2010; 41(3): 328 - 339. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. F. Stokes Neighborhood Density and Word Frequency Predict Vocabulary Size in Toddlers J Speech Lang Hear Res, June 1, 2010; 53(3): 670 - 683. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. L. Rice, L. Hoffman, and K. Wexler Judgments of Omitted BE and DO in Questions as Extended Finiteness Clinical Markers of Specific Language Impairment (SLI) to 15 Years: A Study of Growth and Asymptote J Speech Lang Hear Res, December 1, 2009; 52(6): 1417 - 1433. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Rispoli, P. A. Hadley, and J. K. Holt The Growth of Tense Productivity J Speech Lang Hear Res, August 1, 2009; 52(4): 930 - 944. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. van Veen, J. Evers-Vermeul, T. Sanders, and H. van den Bergh Parental input and connective acquisition: A growth curve analysis First Language, August 1, 2009; 29(3): 266 - 288. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. R. Crais, L. R. Watson, and G. T. Baranek Use of Gesture Development in Profiling Children's Prelinguistic Communication Skills Am J Speech Lang Pathol, February 1, 2009; 18(1): 95 - 108. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. M. Ellis and D. J. Thal Early Language Delay and Risk for Language Impairment Language Learning and Education, October 1, 2008; 15(3): 93 - 100. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. L. Rice, C. L. Taylor, and S. R. Zubrick Language Outcomes of 7-Year-Old Children With or Without a History of Late Language Emergence at 24 Months J Speech Lang Hear Res, April 1, 2008; 51(2): 394 - 407. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. R. Zubrick, C. L. Taylor, M. L. Rice, and D. W. Slegers Late Language Emergence at 24 Months: An Epidemiological Study of Prevalence, Predictors, and Covariates J Speech Lang Hear Res, December 1, 2007; 50(6): 1562 - 1592. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|