1. The SYNTAX section of the DELV
Key Features and Examples

2. Goals of the DELV SYNTAX
To show how the child understands relationships between clauses and between sentences
Focus on a few core concepts of modern syntax (wh-movement, wh-barriers, set properties of wh-words)
Introduce elements of complexity
(to reveal hidden knowledge)

3. Components of The DELV SYNTAX Domain
Three Item Types
WH-Question Comprehension
Passive Comprehension
Article Production
Important skills for understanding academic texts and learning to talk about them.

4. Wh-Question Comprehension: Testing Procedure
The child is told a brief story about a pictured event.
She or he is then asked the key test question about some aspect of the event.
Key Point: The pictures support several possible interpretations of the question. The child must interpret all parts of the sentence prompt to answer correctly.

5. Wh-Question Comprehension: Testing Procedure
(Based on work by Finneran, 1993; Roeper & de Villers, 1994; de Villiers, Roeper, & Vainikka, 1990; Roeper & de Villiers, 1993; Vainikka & Roeper, 1995; de Villiers & Roeper, 1995)
Can the child
--Understand questions with two wh-words?

6. This father and this baby were having lunch together. Who ate what?
c. The Psychological Corporation

7. Typical Answers to double WH questions
CORRECT:
“who” = baby and dad; “what” = apple and banana” =>
PAIRED, EXHAUSTIVE responses
Ex. The dad ate the apple and the baby ate the banana.
INCORRECT:
SINGLETONS
One element: “dad” “baby”
Both objects, no subjects: “the apple and the banana”
One pair: “the baby ate the banana.”
OTHER (irrelevant)
“He was eating.” “I like bananas.”

8. Ex. 2: This girl played different things in different ways
Ex. 2: This girl played different things in different ways. She played the drums with her feet and the piano with her hands. How did the girl play what?
c. The Psychological Corporation

9. Typical Answers to double WH questions
CORRECT:
“how” = with hands and feet; “what” = piano and drums =>
PAIRED, EXHAUSTIVE responses
Ex. She playin’ the drum with her foot and the piano with her hand.
INCORRECT:
SINGLETONS
One element: “piano” “with her feet”
Both objects, no instruments: “the piano and the drums”
One pair: “she played the drums with her feet.”
OTHER (irrelevant)
“He’s talking in the mike.” “I can sing.”

10. What can go wrong (with a wh-question with 1 wh-word)?
The child doesn’t know that:
The WH-word refers not to a single person or thing, but to members of a set of things.
Ex. (“I saw a boy, a girl, and a dog.”)
“What did I see?”
“what” = all of the objects (boy, girl, dog)
“Who was at dinner?”
“who” = the 5 or 6 individuals at dinner

11. What can go wrong (with WH-questions with 2 WH-words)?
The child doesn’t know that:
Both WH-words refer not to a single person or thing, but to ALL the members of a set of things
AND the members of the two sets are “paired”
Ex. Who saw what?
Person 1 saw Thing 1;
Person 2 saw Thing 2;
Person 3 saw Thing 3.

12. WH-Item Type 2: WH-question word “jumps over” two verbs: comes from the end of the sentence.
Does the child know
--which verbs wh-question words go with (and which verbs they cannot go with)?
Use a false statement so 2-clause answer will be different from 1-clause answer.
--based on research on barriers to syntactic movement (de Villiers & Roeper, 1995 and others.)

13. Ex. 3: This mother snuck out one night when her little girl was asleep and bought a surprise birthday cake. The next day the little girl saw the bag from the store and asked, “What did you buy?” The mom wanted to keep the surprise until later so she said, “ Just some paper towels.” -- What did the mom say she bought?
c. The Psychological Corporation

14. Typical answers to two-clause “false clause” questions
CORRECT
TWO-CLAUSE (or “long distance”) responses
(“what….sayv1….boughtv2?”)
Ex. She said she bought paper towels.
INCORRECT
ONE-CLAUSE responses (“what…bought?”)
Ex. (She bought) a birthday cake.
OTHER
“a surprise” “a bag” “I don’t know.”

15. Crucial concept for “false clause” questions
“what….sayv1….boughtv2?”
different from
“what…boughtv1?”

16. Does the child answer the right question?
WH-Item Type 3: WH-question word blocked from “jumping over” another wh-word: cannot come from the end of the sentence.
Does the child know
-- when a question word can come from a distant clause (and when it cannot)?
Does the child answer the right question?
--based on research on barriers to syntactic movement (Vainikka & Roeper, 1995; de Villiers & Roeper, 1995 and others.)

17. c. The Psychological Corporation
Ex. 4: This mom didn’t know how to bake a cake. She saw a TV program about cooking, and she learned to make a lovely cake with pudding mix. -- How did the mom learn what to bake?
c. The Psychological Corporation

18. Typical Answers to WH-barrier questions
CORRECT (short distance) responses
(How did she learn…?) By watching TV..
INCORRECT (wrong question) responses
(middle question…what to bake?) “a cake”
(long distance How…..bake?) “With a pudding mix,” “With a spoon”
OTHER
Ex. “She didn’t know how.”

19. c. The Psychological Corporation
Ex. 5: These children were planning a surprise party for their favorite teacher. Everyone was going to bring some food for the party, but the boy didn’t know what to bring. He asked the woman at the grocery store, “What shall I bring my teacher? The woman told me his teacher loved bologna, so that’s what the boy decided to bring Who did the boy ask what to bring?
c. The Psychological Corporation

20. Typical answers to question with barrier:
CORRECT (short distance) responses
(Who did she ask…?) “woman at store”
INCORRECT (wrong question) responses
(middle question…what to bring?) “bologna”
(long distance Who…..bring?) “teacher”
OTHER
Ex. “I don’t know.”

21. The concept of a syntactic barrier
Compare
“How did she learn to bake?” (2 possible answers)
How…learn? (ex. From TV) OR
How….bake? (ex. Like an Austrian pastry chef)
“How did she learn what to bake?”
the “WHAT” BLOCKS “HOW…BAKE”
“How” can come only from “learn- clause”
Only “how…learn?” (from TV) is possible.

22. Two-WH Example Responses from field testing
CHILD B (ID 18221)
The dad ate the apple; the baby ate the nana.
She played the piano with her hands and the drums with her feet.
The TV teached her.
The grocery store lady
CHILD A (ID 12663)
Banana and a apple
Feet and her hands
Paper towels
A cake
bologna

23. Other WH Example Responses
CHILD B (18221)
4 correct barriers
1 middle question
CHILD A (12663)
2 correct barriers,
2 barrier violations
1 other
Scores:
2 points (of 5)
4 points (of 5)

24. Double-WH Responses by Age and Dialect

25. Double-WH Responses by Age and Language Status

26. LD False Clause Response Types by Age and Language Status

27. WH Barrier Responses by Age and Dialect

28. WH Barrier Response Types by Age and Language Status

29. Syntax Item Type 2: PASSIVE Comprehension
3 Question Types
Simple passives Testing movement
Complex passives Testing for hidden properties
(agents, results, different subjects)
“By-phrases” Focus on “ed” versus “ing”
(use single cue)

30. Ex. 6: Simple Passive Example Show me: The elephant was pushed.

31. Passive Question Type 1: SIMPLE Passives
Does the child distinguish these two sentences?
Ex. Someone pushed the elephant.
The elephant was pushed.
Must choose
PASSIVE (b) over ACTIVE (a) or NEUTRAL (c )

32. Ex. 7: Complex Passive Example Show me: The boy’s face was being painted.

33. Passive Question Type 2: COMPLEX Passives
Does the child distinguish these two sentences?
Ex. The boy’s face was painted.
The boy’s face was being painted.
Must choose
BETWEEN TWO PASSIVES (b and c) according to implicit (unstated) information about ongoing time and different agent.

34. Passive Question Type 3: BY-PHRASE (non)-Passives
Does the child distinguish these two sentences?
Ex. The plant was droppED by John.
The plant was droppING by John.
(by-phrase indicates location, not agent)
Must use single cue to REJECT the passive when ED does not accompany the “be” auxiliary.

35. Ex. 8: Non-passive “ing” example “The plant was dropping by John”

36. Sample children’s responses
CHILD B (18221)
Simple passives 3 of 4
Complex: 2 of 4
Locative by-phrases
2 of 2 (indicates mastery)
7 of 10
CHILD A (12663)
Simple passives 2 of 4
Complex: 1 of 4
Locative by-phrases
1 of 2 (doesn’t show mastery)
4 of 10 (chose 5 active foils)
(lowest 30% of 5-year-olds)

37. Passive Overall

38. Passive Overall

39. COMPLEX Passives (especially good discrimination after age 5)

40. ARTICLE Production: Making DISCOURSE CONNECTIONS
Subtle demands on child’s syntax and semantics
Engage context, presupposition and general knowledge
Essentially the same in AAE and MAE
Best tested WITHOUT PICTURE STIMULI
which can change conditions on presuppositions, known and new

41. Examples of eliciting questions
Part-the: Sally was going to eat a banana, but first she had to take something off it. What did she take off it? (THE peel)
Familiar-the: A cat and a bird were sitting in a tree. They were friends. One of them flew out of the tree. Guess which. (THE bird)
Specific-a: I'll bet you have something hanging on the wall of your room at home. What is it? (A picture)
Non-referential-a: Fred wants to take his teddy bear, his favorite game, and his soccer ball over to his cousin’s house when he goes to visit. What can he put them all in? (A bag)
Predicational-a: Think of a baseball player. Can you imagine what one looks like? What does he have? (A glove)

42. WHAT CAN GO WRONG? Types of Article Errors
Using “a” for “the”; “the for a”
(“a for the” 8 times more common)
Bare Singular (“fly kite”)
Irrelevant responses (“My sister has one.” “The man in the moon.”)
Note: when children say “my doll” or “some games,” they are re-prompted with “anything else?”

43. Example of Article Errors from Sample Children
Child A (12663)
“a for the”
What did she take off [the banana]?
“a peel”
Child B (18221)
Bare singular
What do you have on the wall of your room? “spiderweb”

44. Development of correct article use in MAE and AAE speaking children.

45. Development of correct article use in typically developing and language impaired children (discrimination best at earlier ages)

46. Syntax Domain Overall

47. Syntax Domain Overall

48. Who are the sample children?
CHILD A (ID 12663)
5 years old
White Female
From South
Parents w/ HS education
Mainstream English speaker
Not receiving speech or language services
CHILD B (ID 18221)
4 years old
African American boy
From “north Central” US
Parents w/ HS education
“Some difference” from MAE”
Not receiving speech or language services

49. What do the sample children show us?
CHILD B (18221)
Sound understanding of several complex grammatical structures.
paired, exhaustive responses,
respected wh-barriers,
demonstrated theory of mind (unusual for a 4-year-old),
sensitivity to a single cue in passives;
no “a for the” article errors.
CHILD A (12663)
Poor understanding
non-exhaustive answers,
“wrong clause” answers in wh-questions,
active for passive answers,
“a for the” article error.

50. What have they demonstrated? (con’t)
CHILD A (12663)
Syntax Domain Weakness
(no non-MAE morpho-syntax)
Difficulty understanding questions, misinterpreting morphological cues, and at times not making the necessary links between sentences.
Risk for difficulty in the classroom and in learning to read.
CHILD B (18221)
Syntax Domain Strength
(some non-MAE morpho-syntax: “teached her”; “she go”)
Well-set to begin school and literacy training.
Low risk for difficulty in school

51. Conclusions
We have shown that the assessment of complex aspects of children’s syntactic development between the ages of 4 and 9 can be carried out in a dialect neutral fashion.
These materials and procedures capture the development of several aspects of language that are vital for success in early schooling and the transition to literacy.
They provide the clinician with a substantial profile of the child language strengths and weaknesses, not just a diagnostic categorization.
As such they provide a much richer evaluation of language variation and its sources that has direct implications for areas and methods of intervention.