Language Competence Across Populations: Toward a Definition of Specific Language Impairment PDF
Preview Language Competence Across Populations: Toward a Definition of Specific Language Impairment
Language Competence Across Populations Toward a Definition of Specific Language Impairment This page intentionally left blank 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 w 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 This page intentionally left blank 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
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