Assessment of Morphology & Syntax Expression

Objectives What is MLU Stages of Syntactic Development Examples of Difficulties in Syntax Why preferring the term “morphosyntax” The Assessment Methods of Analysis

What is MLU? stands for mean length of utterance a measure of syntax development is the average number of morphemes or words that a client produces in an utterance N.B. MLU for words does not reflect the use of bound morphemes (i.e. will be equal to or smaller than the MLU for morphemes)

MLU (Cont’d) provides important information about language development –i.e. an indicator of a language delay or disorder For Computing MLU, look at : Box 6-3 Page (Lund & Duchan)

Syntactic Development One word syntax –Word acts like a whole sentence –Holophrase  single words express ideas adults would say in a sentence –Contains pragmatic & semantic information

One word syntax (Cont’d) –Transition to syntax end of the of the single-word period Using the same word with different intonation patterns or with accompanying gestures to express different intentions The use of successive single words that relate to the same event Indications of moving toward word combinations

Two word combinations –18-20 months –When have acquired about 50 single words –Telegraphic utterances They contain –Content-carrying words (nouns,verbs,& adjectives) –Low-information words (pronouns,articles,prepositions ) + inflectional morphemes

Multiword combinations –Utterances of 3 or more words –When equal numbers of 1-word & 2-word utterances are produced –MLU (1.5) –Simple clauses Simple clauses that appear at this stage more expanded (articles, adj., adv., … are added) combined to form multiclause utterances

Multiword combinations (Cont’d) –Development of verbs Simple action verbs (e.g. eat & do) Verbs indicating change in location (e.g. put & sit) Verbs indicating the state of the subject (e.g. want & know) –Demonstrative pronouns (e.g. this, that & it) appear frequently as the subject of the sentence e.g. That a cow

Multiple clauses –Appear between 2-3 years of age –MLU (3+) –Appearance of multiple clauses with no connectives (e.g. you take that one, I take that one) –Appearance of connective and Connecting words Connecting 2 clauses

Multiple clauses (Cont’d) –Appearance of Wh- words (e.g. I remember where it is, when I get big I can lift you up) –Appearance of simple relative clauses (e.g. that a box that they put it in)

Difficulties in syntax: are encountered as a wide range of identifiable phenomena –examples difficulties of message structure confuses pronouns/prepositions has few determiners does not put endings on verbs can not construct complete sentences

Why the term “morphosyntax” was chosen instead of sytax? wide-range of clinical symptomatology Rarely, –a disorder will respect a linguistic boundary  such as that between Morphology & syntax Syntax & lexis –disorders affecting these areas without affecting the area of meaning

Points to consider –Speakers execute utterances and don’t actually speak in sentences Speech is executed in units that are smaller or bigger than sentences –Within utterances, speech is prosodically structured in tone groups So, prosodic factors help to mark the status of a word/phrase Assessment of expressive morphosyntax

Points (Cont’d) MLU measure correlates with syntactic complexity until the MLU (3) is reached MLU above (3) overestimates grammatical complexity of delayed language children

Elicitation procedures –Eliciting complements Introduce the unexpected (e.g. it is blue) Descriptive games Verbal scenarios –Eliciting verb tenses (present and past) Narrative activities

Elicitation procedures (Cont’d) –Eliciting multiple clause sentences Description games Story telling or retelling –Eliciting question forms The messenger game –Eliciting negatives Creating the need for objects that are not present Introducing the unexpected Patterned practice

Elicitation procedures (Cont’d) –Eliciting lexical verb clauses Improbable picture (e.g. what is wrong with the picture) Description games (e.g. telling a third person what the clinician is doing)

Sample Analysis Segment sample into utterances Calculate MLU Identify all syntactic features Close portions -excluded from MLU calculation- in parentheses

Sample Analysis (Cont’d) Detailed analysis of a language sample (e.g. LARSP-Language Assessment and Screening Procedure) List the structures that are ready to be analyzed Organize each structure errors

Sample Analysis (Cont’d) Analysis of Clause Structure Production 1.Listing transcript of clauses utterances 2.Exclude A.utterances that were excluded from MLU computation B.Questions 3.Indicate errors 4.Categorize the utterances 5.Note A.Clause types used B.Frequency C.Where errors occurred

Sample Analysis (Cont’d) Noun Phrase Analysis 1.list the noun phrases 2.Indicate the errors 3.Eliminate utterances that are A.Stereotyped B.Direct imitations 4.Include A.Elliptical utterances B.Questions that were excluded from clause analysis

Sample Analysis (Cont’d) Question Analysis 1.Identify all questions, including those formed with intonation 2.List & classify all questions (e.g. yes-no, wh-) 3.Indicate the questions that have errors 4.Note A.if child does not use any questions B.Uses only one form

Sample Analysis (Cont’d) Negation Analysis 1.List all syntactic negation forms 2.Note the few instances of syntactic negation used 3.Indicate the forms with deviations from adult structure