SYNTACTIC DEVELOPMENT ECSE 500 CLASS SESSION 6 REVIEW

SYNTACTIC DEVELOPMENT ECSE 500 CLASS SESSION 6

REVIEW • PHONOLOGY • SEMANTICS • MORPHOLOGY • TODAY - SYNTAX

SYNTAX • IN LINGUISTICS, SYNTAX IS THE TERM FOR THE STUDY OF RULES GOVERNING THE COMBINATION OF WORDS TO FORM SENTENCES

SYNTACTIC KNOWLEDGE • IN ENGLISH THE BASIC ORDER FOR A SIMPLE SENTENCE IS: • NOUN – VERB – OBJECT • WHAT IF - THE KICKED BOY BALL THE? • HOW DO WE GIVE THESE WORDS MEANING?

SYNTACTIC DEVELOPMENT • RULES THAT ENABLE US TO COMBINE MORPHEMES INTO SENTENCES. • MORE CRACKERS • INCREASINGLY COMPLEX AS THE CHILD DEVELOPS. • FROM TWO MORPHEMES, TO COMBINING WORDS WITH SUFFIXES OR INFLECTIONS (-S OR -ING, AS IN PAPERS AND EATING) TO QUESTIONS, STATEMENTS, COMMANDS, ETC.

SYNTACTIC KNOWLEDGE • THE KNOWLEDGE OF HOW WORDS CAN BE COMBINED IN MEANINGFUL SENTENCES, PHRASES, OR UTTERANCES. • MEAN LENGTH OF UTTERANCE • COMPLEXITY OF SENTENCES • NEGATION • INTERROGATIVES • PASSIVE VOICE • PRONOUNS

MEAN LENGTH OF UTTERANCE • LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT FOLLOWS A SEQUENTIAL ORDER • AS AGE INCREASES SO DOES THE LENGTH OF A CHILD’S UTTERANCE • 20 -30 MONTHS OF AGE UTTERANCES ARE TYPICALLY TWO WORDS LONG • 28 -42 MONTHS THEY ARE UP TO FOUR WORDS LONG, AND SO ON • THE TYPICAL LENGTH OF A CHILD’S UTTERANCES WHAT WOULD BE EXPECTED FOR THEIR AGE.

CALCULATING MLU-M • MORPHEMES VS WORDS • CALCULATING MLU-M • 1. RECORD A LANGUAGE SAMPLE FROM THE CHILD • 2. COUNT THE NUMBER OF MORPHEMES – • 3. COUNT THE NUMBER OF UTTERANCES – • 4. DIVIDE THE NUMBER OF MORPHEMES BY THE NUMBER OF UTTERANCES

MLU-M • EXAMPLE • ‘GO HOME NOW • I LIVE IN BILLINGHAM • MUMMY KISSED MY DADDY • I LIKE YOUR DOGS’ • MORPHEMES = 17 • UTTERANCES = 4 • MLU-M = 17/4 = 4. 25 • THIS CHILD’S MLU-M IS 4. 25 OR WHAT WOULD BE EXPECTED OF SOMEONE BETWEEN 42 AND 48 MONTHS OF AGE

NEGATION • PROGRESSION OF USE OF NEGATION: • STAGE 1: • NO WANT SOME FOOD • NO THE SUN IS SHINING • WEAR MITTEN NO • STAGE 2: • HE NO BITE YOU. • I NO WANT ENVELOPE. • I CAN’T SEE YOU. • THAT NO FISH SCHOOL. • STAGE 3: • I DON’T WANT NO FOOD. I DIDN’T DID IT. NO, IT ISN’T.

INTONATION AND INTERROGATIVES • STAGE 1: • I RIDE TRAIN? WHO THAT? WHERE MILK GO? • STAGE 2: • DOES THE KITTY STAND UP? (Y/N) • DID MOMMY PINCH HER FINGER? (Y/N) • WHY KITTY CAN’T STAND UP? • WHAT YOU ARE SMILING? • STAGE 3: • WHAT DID YOU DOED? WHAT DOES COFFEE TASTE LIKE?

EFFECTS OF DISABILITIES • PROBLEMATIC SYNTACTIC STRUCTURES INCLUDE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN WORDS IN SENTENCES AND PHRASES. • UNDERSTANDING WHO A PRONOUN APPLIES TO AND WHAT FUNCTION IS SERVED BY A DIRECT OBJECT AND AN INDIRECT OBJECT ARE EXAMPLES OF THIS SYNTACTIC SKILL. • ORAL LANGUAGE PRODUCTION DID NOT AUTOMATICALLY IMPROVE WITH AGE FOR STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES AS IT DOES FOR OTHER STUDENTS (WIIG ET AL. , 1977).

BROWN'S STAGE I • 15 TO 30 MONTHS • CHILDREN ARE EXPECTED TO HAVE MLUM'S (MEAN LENGTH OF UTTERANCE MEASURED IN MORPHEMES) OF ABOUT 1. 75 MORPHEMES.

BROWN'S STAGE II • 28 AND 36 MONTHS OF AGE, • MLUMS BETWEEN 2. 0 AND 2. 5, • THEY BEGIN USING – • -ING VERB • USING PREPOSITIONS • -S PLURALS ("MY CARS")

BROWN’S STAGE III • 36 TO 42 MONTHS OF AGE • MLUMS BETWEEN 2. 5 AND 3. 0 • THEY BEGIN USING • IRREGULAR PAST TENSE ("ME FELL DOWN") • 'S POSSESSIVE AS IN "DADA'S BOOK”THEY • COPULAS (WORDS THAT LINK A SUBJECT AND PREDICATE - "I AM TALL").

BROWN’S STAGE IV • 40 TO 46 MONTHS OF AGE • MLUMS BETWEEN 3. 0 AND 3. 7 • IT'S AT THIS STAGE THEY BEGIN TO USE • ARTICLES • REGULAR PAST TENSE • THIRD PERSON REGULAR TENSE AND PRESENT TENSE.

BROWN’S STAGE 5 • 42 T 0 52 MONTHS OF AGE • MLUMS BETWEEN 3. 7 AND 4. 5 • THEY BEGIN USING – • THIRD PERSON IRREGULAR • UNCONTRACTIBLE AUXILIARIES • CONTRACTIBLE COPULAS

A CHILD WITH MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX DEFICITS MAY: • DEMONSTRATE INCONSISTENT OR INCORRECT WORD ORDER WHEN SPEAKING • USE A LIMITED NUMBER OF GRAMMATICAL MARKERS (E. G. –ING, A, THE, POSSESSIVE ‘S, BE VERBS) • HAVE DIFFICULTY UNDERSTANDING AND USING PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE VERB TENSES • SHOW LIMITED UNDERSTANDING AND USE OF PLURAL FORMS • STRUGGLE WITH STORY RETELL TASKS

SYNTACTIC DEVELOPMENT BY AGE TWENTY-FOUR MONTHS: • CONSISTENT WORD ORDER IS IN PLACE • EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE CONTAINS FEW GRAMMATICAL MARKERS AND SPEECH IS “TELEGRAPHIC” BY AGE THIRTY MONTHS: • -ING AND PLURAL /S/ BEGIN EMERGING • USE OF NEGATIVES BETWEEN SUBJECT AND VERB (E. G. MOMMY NO GO) APPEARS • RISING INTONATION IS USED TO INDICATE A QUESTION • PAUL, R (2001)

SYNTAX DEVELOPMENT BY AGE THIRTY-SIX MONTHS: • OVERGENERALIZATION OF PAST-TENSE VERB FORMS IS IN PLACE (E. G. RUNNED) • USE OF NEGATIVES BETWEEN SUBJECT AND VERB (E. G. MOMMY NO GO) APPEARS • RISING INTONATION IS USED TO INDICATE A QUESTION • PRESENT TENSE AUXILIARIES HAVE EMERGED (E. G. DADDY IS EATING; BUNNY DOES HOP) BY AGE FORTY-TWO MONTHS: • AUXILIARY VERBS ARE BEING ORDERED CORRECTLY IN QUESTIONS AND NEGATIVES (E. G. WHAT IS HE DOING? VERSUS WHAT HE IS DOING? ) • GRAMMATICAL MARKERS HAVE EMERGED INCLUDING: POSSESSIVE ‘S,

SYNTAX DEVELOPMENT BY AGE FORTY-EIGHT MONTHS: • A VARIETY OF EARLY COMPLEX SENTENCE TYPES EMERGE INCLUDING COMPOUND SENTENCES (E. G. MY SHIRT IS BLUE AND GREEN), FULL PREPOSITIONAL CLAUSES IN SENTENCES (E. G. I PUT AWAY THE TOYS IN THE TOY BOX), AND SIMPLE INFINITIVES (I WANT TO DRAW). BY AGE FORTY-EIGHT TO SIXTY MONTHS: • LATER DEVELOPING MORPHEMES ARE ACQUIRED, INCLUDING BE VERBS, REGULAR PAST, AND THIRD PERSON /S/ BY AGE FIVE TO SEVEN YEARS OLD: • PASSIVE SENTENCES ARE UNDERSTOOD AND USED • PAUL, R (2001)

SYNTAX DEVELOPMENT • FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX, PLEASE VISIT, SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPY. • REFERENCES • PAUL, R (2001). LANGUAGE DISORDERS FROM INFANCY THROUGH ADOLESCENCE: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION 2 ND EDITION. ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: MOSBY, INC.

ECSE 500 • OF COURSE SPEAKERS OF A LANGUAGE CONSTANTLY USE THESE COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE TOGETHER, AND USUALLY IN SOCIAL SITUATIONS. • IN THE NEXT CLASS SESSION WE WILL ADD A FOURTH COMPONENT: PRAGMATICS, WHICH DEALS WITH RULES OF LANGUAGE USE.