Jean A. Rondal

Age-Relation, Reliability and Grammatical Validity of Measures of Utterance Length.

This study evaluated the age-relationship, intra-sample reliability and grammatical validity of MLU-like measures of utterance length in the free speech of 21 normally developing children aged 1;8 to 2;8 with MLU between 1·05 and 3·06. Contrary to a previous study by Klee & Fitzgerald (1985). it was found that measures of utterance length hold a good relation with age, are reliable and predict grammatical development well in the age and MLU range considered. It is argued that there are identifiable points in the developmental evolution of MLU and MLU-like indices beyond which their reliability and validity have serious problems. Below these points, they constitute sound measures of syntactic development.

Language in mental retardation: Individual and syndromic differences, and neurogenetic variation

Predominantly non-etiological conceptions have dominated the field of mental retardation (MR) since the discovery of the genetic etiology of Down syndrome (DS) in the sixties. However, contemporary approaches are becoming more etiologically oriented. Important differences across MR syndromes of genetic origin are being documented, particularly in the cognition and language domains, differences not explicable in terms of psychometric level, motivation, or other dimensions. This paper highlights the major difficulties observed in the oral language development of individuals with genetic syndromes of mental retardation. The extent of inter- and within-syndrome variability are evaluated. Possible brain underpinnings of the behavioural differences are envisaged. Cases of atypically favourable language development in MR individuals are also summarized and explanatory variables discussed. It is suggested that differences in brain architectures, originating in neurological development and having genetic origins, ...

Speech fluency in fragile X syndrome

The present study investigated the dysfluencies in the speech of nine French speaking individuals with fragile X syndrome. Type, number, and loci of dysfluencies were analysed. The study confirms that dysfluencies are a common feature of the speech of individuals with fragile X syndrome but also indicates that the dysfluency pattern displayed is not identical to developmental stuttering. To what extent the pattern of dysfluency in individuals with fragile X syndrome is syndrome specific is not yet clear.

Teoría de la mente y lenguaje

Resumen Las propuestas teoricas sobre la teoria de la mente son hoy bien conocidas. Menos clara es la conjuncion de variables que conduce a su desarrollo. La presente comunicacion tratara este tema desde una doble perspectiva. Por una parte, el papel desempenado por la teoria de la mente en la explicacion de una serie de problemas observables en el sindrome de Asperger, en el sindrome del X Fragil y en el autismo infantil. Por otra parte, el probable papel del lenguaje (especialmente en algunos de sus aspectos, p. ej., los ligados al aprendizaje de los verbos mentales —pensar, creer, imaginar, suponer, etc.—, el funcionamiento ilocutorio y el desarrollo del lenguaje figurativo) en la construccion de la intersubjetividad a traves de numerosos episodios interactivos entre padres y ninos.

Actionality and mental imagery in children's comprehension of declaratives

Previous work has demonstrated that children understand sentences with actional verbs better than nonactional verbs. This actionality effect has been reported to be restricted to passives and to be independent of experimental context. The present experiment was conducted with 48 French-speaking children aged 5; 0-7; 11. The actionality effect was studied by systematically varying the voice of the test sentences and the voice of the interpretive requests. Pictures corresponding or not to the predicate-argument structure of the sentences were presented to the subjects, who were independently classified as visualizers or nonvisualizers, in order to investigate the relation between sentence actionality and mental imagery. The interaction between actionality, voice of sentence, and interpretive request revealed that the actionality effect depends on the type of task used in order to assess comprehension, and that it can be reversed in some conditions. Our results also suggest that the actionality effect is linked to mental imagery. Visualizers demonstrated better comprehension of actional sentences than nonvisualizers, whereas the reverse was true for non-actional sentences. Mental image may serve as a support for the computations involved in sentence comprehension.

Input evidence regarding the semantic bootstrapping hypothesis

The input language addressed to 18 language-learning children (MLU 1.00-3.00) was analysed so as to assess the quality of the semantic-syntactic correspondence posited by the semantic bootstrapping hypothesis. The correspondence appears to be quite satisfactory with little variation from the lower to the higher MLUs. All the persons and things referred to in the corpora were labelled by the mothers using nouns. All the actions referred to were labelled using verbs. Most of the attributive information was conveyed by adjectives. Spatial information was expressed through the use of spatial prepositions. As to the functional categories, all agents of actions and causes of events were encoded as subjects of sentences. All patients, themes, sources, goals, locations, and instruments were encoded as objects of sentences (either direct or oblique). This good semantic-syntactic correspondence may make the childs construction of grammatical categories easier.

Análisis del lenguaje espontáneo

Resumen El articulo expone los principios basicos del analisis del corpus del lenguaje espontaneo: segmentacion en enunciados, informatizacion, tecnicas de analisis y de control de fiabilidad de los indices, indicaciones normativas. En concreto, se nos presentan diversas medidas puntuales como los indices de diversidad lexica (IDL) y los de longitud media de produccion verbal (LMPV) o de enunciado (LME). Se discuten su validez y su valor predictivo, asi como la cantidad del lenguaje necesaria para obtener indicaciones fiables. Aparte de los indices puntuales, se contemplan una serie de herramientas analiticas que permiten superar ciertas limitaciones de los indices puntuales. Se trata de la integracion longitud-complejidad, del dispositivo del analisis linguistico, del analisis del desarrollo de la frase (DSA-Developmental Sentence Analysis), de la valoracion del lenguaje y procedimiento de seleccion de soluciones (LARSP-Language Assessment and Remediation Screening Procedure), de la etapa de asignacion estructural (ASS-Assigning Structural Stage), del indice de sintaxis productiva (IPS), y del dispositivo de analisis funcional del linguista Halliday. Por ultimo, se discute el problema de la interpretacion clinica de los datos facilitados por los analisis del corpus y se afirma la complementariedad de estas tecnicas con los tests formales de lenguaje.

Aspectos del desarrollo léxico en el retraso mental

Resumen El desarrollo lexico de los sujetos con retraso mental ha sido considerado desde diversos puntos de vista: la relacion con la edad cronologica, con la edad mental y con el funcionamiento cognitivo; las relaciones entre base cognitiva, comprension y produccion lexica; la variacion intersindromica e interindividual; la funcion de la memoria de trabajo, y las dificultades implicadas en los aprendizajes lexicos y en la organizacion del lexico en la memoria a largo plazo

Pieces of minds in psycholinguistics: Steven pinker, kenneth wexler, and noam chomsky a series of interviews conducted

Abstract This is the third of a series of interviews featuring Steven Pinker, Noam Chomsky, and Kenneth Wexler, three giant figures in the fields of linguistics, psycholinguistics, and cognitive science. The first two interviews appeared in earlier issues of this journal (Vol. 28, Issue 4, pp. 45W; Vol. 29, Issue 1, pp. 85404). Kenneth Wexler teaches and does his experimental work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is well known for his innovative work on language learnability (i.e. the problem of how correct linguistic representations can be attained given the limited data available to the child), which has led to considerable changes in linguistic and psycholinguistic theories and research orientations. More recently, Professor Wexler (in association with Hagit Borer) developed what they call a maturation theory of syntax, suggesting basically, in opposition to the continuity hypothesis, that the formal principles available to the child to fix his grammar mature (i.e. different principles ...

Pieces of Minds in Psycholinguistics

Abstract This is the first of a series of three interviews featuring Steven Pinker, Kenneth Wexler, and Noam Chornsky, three giant figures in the fields of Linguistics, Psycholinguistics, and Cognitive Science. The three scientists teach at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States. The fiTst interview is with Professor Steven Pinker, The other two interviews will appear in subsequent issues of this Journal. The contents of the interviews bear on issues related with the evolution of psycholinguistics (past and present), the very notion of language and its acquisition and development in children, the contribution of recent linguistic theories to psycholinguistics and particularly developmental psycholinguistics. Some more personal questions and answers concern the personal contributions of Pinker, Wexler, and Chomsky to the movement of ideas in linguistics and psycholinguistics as they see it, as well as their own professional formation and development. Steven Pinker, ...