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 TO46 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 t0 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, articles a, the, and irregular past tense
•Paul, R (2001)
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 2ND 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.