Specific Language impairment – is it so specific? Anne E. Baker University of Amsterdam

Overview of this talk Introduction: SLI SLI and … - reading problems - ADHD - bilingualism Future work

Collaborators Bilingualism: Elma Blom, N. Çavuş J. de Jong, A. Orgassa, F. Weerman Reading problems: Esther Psarigger, Judith Rispens ADHD: Esther Parigger Thanks to NWO & Marie Curie.

What is SLI? SLI refers to pervasive impairment in the development of language - in the absence of other problems such as deafness, autism etc. Grammar is often a problem - in particular Agreement inflection e.g. Janet drive the car. Pragmatics and semantics can also be affected. Phonology

non-word repetition (NWR) in the literature more than 90% of SLI children perform poorly on the NWR indicating problems with phonological (sound) processing Reading problems (dyslexia) Approximately 50% of children with SLI diagnosed with developmental dyslexia (McArthur et al. 2000) What is the relationship? SLI and......

Results: NWR and dyslexia in SLI (Rispens & Parigger 2008) SLI SLI+DYS TD Only the SLI+DYS is different from TD, p<.001

Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? 31% with SLI scored in the (sub)clinical range of the inattention and/or hyperactivity scales (VvGK). Do these children perform differently in language and executive functions? SLI and......

Language Problems (Parigger 2007) Semantic problems: Example: Confuses words of similar meaning ‘screw- driver’ for ‘hammer’. Pragmatic problems: Example: Use of terms like ‘he’ or ‘it’ without making clear what talking about. No difference between SLI+ADHD and –ADHD SLI group as whole worse than TD SLI+ADHD worse than SLI-ADHD All SLI worse than TD

Measures of executive functioning CANTAB  Inhibition: Stop Signal Task  Attention: Rapid Visual Information Processing  Working Memory: Spatial Working Memory  Shifting Intra-Extra Dimensional Set Shift

Measures of executive functioning CANTAB  Inhibition: Stop Signal Task  Attention: Rapid Visual Information Processing  Working Memory: Spatial Working Memory  Shifting Intra-Extra Dimensional Set Shift Trend only found: SLI+ADHD worse than SLI-ADHD

SLI and bilingualism Bilingual SLI is SLI in both languages. SLI in only one language is by definition not possible But: SLI may have different linguistic manifestations in the two languages How do SLI and bilingualism interact?

Research design A cross-linguistic comparison of grammatical morphology - in the same bilingual children - whose two languages are typologically different (Turkish and Dutch) The aims are:  To identify markers of SLI (adjectival and verbal inflection)  To identify markers of (typical) L2 development  To gain insight in the interaction of SLI and L2

(1) Example: adjectival inflection (Dutch)  Kijk, twee messen. ‘Look, two knives’  Dat is een groot-ø mes en dit is een klein-ø mes ‘That is a big knife and this is a small knife’  Waar is Kikker? ‘Where is Kikker’  Kikker zit op het grot-e mes ‘Kikker sits on the big knife’

Dutch SLI and L2 equivalent to younger TD children Bilingual SLI worse than SLI and L2

Example: elicitation (lezen ‘to read’)  VO: Antje leest een boek en Jan leest een krant Antje-subj reads-fin a book-obj  OV: Dit is Antje die een boek leest en dat is Jan die een krant leest This is Antje who a book-obj reads-fin and that is Jan who a newspaper-obj reads-fin  INV: Hier lees jij en daar leest Jan Here read-fin you-subj and there reads-fin Jan-subj

Dutch Bilingual SLI worse than L1-SLI and L2-TD

Turkish verb inflection L2-TD bilingual SLI no errors a few

Disentangling bilingualism and SLI Different linguistc aspects showing up in the two populations: –Verb inflection is a marker of SLI –Gender assignment and Adjectival agreement constitute a marker of L2 But the difference between bilingual typical and bilingual SLI on the Dutch measures suggests that there is a cumulative effect at work in the SLI bilingual group

Further work -bilingualism, SLI and executive funtions (Aude Laloi) -Executive functioning in different populations and specific aspects of language

Explanations for SLI Specific linguistic component is damaged in part of Universal Grammar Processing of language is impaired Introduction

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