Production Of Complex Sentences Research Articles

Production of Complex Sentences in the Semantic Variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia: Neuropsychological, Clinical, Neuroanatomical and Demographic Correlates

Production of Complex Sentences in the Semantic Variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia: Neuropsychological, Clinical, Neuroanatomical and Demographic Correlates

Complex sentence production in bilingual and monolingual children

ABSTRACT Bilingual children often lag behind monolinguals on standardized measures of language acquisition, such as vocabulary tests. This bilingual lag could be related bilinguals’ lesser experience with the target language relative to monolinguals. In this study, we predicted that sequential Mandarin-English bilinguals would perform worse than same-aged English monolinguals on a standardized measure of complex sentence production. As predicted, the bilingual preschoolers performed worse than age-matched English monolinguals. However, once English experience was covaried, there was no significant difference between the two groups. After controlling for age, we tested three predictors of complex sentence production: (1) English vocabulary, (2) verbal memory, and (for the bilinguals) (3) Mandarin vocabulary. For both bilinguals and monolinguals, English vocabulary and verbal memory were significant predictors. These results support the argument that experience with a particular language is highly predictive of children’s ability to produce complex sentences in that language. Verbal memory is also an important predictor of individual differences in the ability to produce complex sentences.

The Competition Between Processing and Discourse-Pragmatic Factors in Children's and Adults' Production of Adverbial When-Clauses.

This is the first study to investigate the combined effects of processing-based factors (i.e., clause length and clause order) and discourse-pragmatic factors (i.e., information structure) on children's and adults' production of adverbial when-clauses. In a sentence repetition task, 16 three-year-old and 16 five-year-old children as well as 17 adults listened to and watched an animated story and then were asked to repeat what they had just heard and seen. Each story contained an adverbial when-clause and its main clause. The sentences were manipulated for their clause order, information structure, and clause length. Adults tended to change main-when clause orders to when-main in their repetitions, and they showed a strong preference for the given-new order of information. In contrast, 3-year-olds tended to change when-main clause orders to main-when, and they showed a preference for the new-given order of information. In addition, 3-year-olds tended to produce short-long clause orders irrespective of what they had heard, whereas adults produced both short-long and long-short orders in line with the input. In general, 5-year-olds were more adultlike in their production compared to 3-year-olds. Young children were strongly affected by processing-based factors in their production of complex sentences. They tended to order main and when-clauses in a way that requires less planning and processing load. However, they have not yet attained an adultlike sensitivity to discourse-pragmatic factors. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24422635.

Sentences Are Key: Helping School-Age Children and Adolescents Build Sentence Skills Needed for Real Language.

In this article, we present key concepts pointing to the importance of targeting complex sentences for school-age children and adolescents with developmental language disorders (DLD). Drawing on current treatment research, we argue that the sentence is a crucial but often neglected piece of the puzzle when it comes to understanding relationships between DLD and academic outcomes. We provide detailed suggestions for how clinicians can focus on complex sentence structures in natural academic contexts to bridge this gap. Background information on sentence complexity is presented, along with a rationale for targeting complex sentences with school-age children and adolescents with DLD. Intervention methods from a variety of studies targeting multiclausal sentences are discussed in relation to current accounts of language learning and language processing models. We provide a robust catalog of suggested strategies for targeting sentence complexity in a manner that is aligned with research findings to date and integrated into real academic contexts. Complex sentence structures are a key challenge for students with DLD as they tackle discipline-specific language and academic tasks. Sentence complexity treatment programs employ one or more treatment methods including priming, modeling, recasting, contextualization, metalinguistic instruction, and sentence combining. While studies have consistently shown a measurable improvement in complex sentence production on proximal outcomes regardless of treatment approach, evidence of durable, functional changes for students with DLD remains sparse. We encourage new treatments that target comprehension and production of complex sentences in real-life academic contexts in clinical practice and research. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23969103.

Revisiting the hypothesis of language retrogenesis from an evolutionary perspective.

In this article, we reexamine the hypothesis of language retrogenesis, that is, the assumption that language change over healthy ageing mirrors, albeit inversely, language acquisition by the child. We additionally question whether this inverse pattern can as well be observed at the cognitive and neurobiological levels, and whether it can be informative (and a consequence, in fact) of how language evolved in humans. We compare the language strengths and weaknesses signifying language acquisition and its eventual decay in healthy ageing. We further compare age-related cognitive and neurobiological readjustments during each of these two developmental stages, with a focus on brain areas involved in language processing. Finally, we delve into the evolutionary changes experienced by these areas. We present evidence supporting the hypothesis of retrogenesis in two domains of language: the lexicon (lexical access, understanding of nonliteral meanings, and resolution of lexical competition) and syntax (understanding and production of complex sentences). Additionally, we show evidence that the brain areas supporting these complex tasks are late-myelinated in childhood and early-demyelinated during ageing. Finally, we show that some of these areas (such as the inferior frontal gyrus) are phylogenetically newer. Language acquisition in children and language degradation/loss in healthy ageing follow the principle of retrogenesis, but mostly in domains that are cognitively demanding and that depend on recently evolved brain devices. Putting this differently, the components of language that emerged more recently appear to be more, and earlier, affected during ageing, as well as developed later over childhood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Syntactic Complexity Across Language Sampling Contexts in School-Age Children, Ages 8-11 Years.

Syntax has been called the structural foundation of language, as its development allows for more efficient and effective communication. Complex syntax production is known to lag in children and adolescents with language impairment. Conversation, narrative, and expository language sampling contexts are recommended tools for the comprehensive assessment of school-age children, including syntactic abilities. Despite these recommendations, few studies have examined syntactic differences obtained from these three sampling contexts in a within group sample of school-age children, (i.e., ages 8-11 years). Information about similarities and differences in syntactic measures obtained from these three sampling contexts is needed to identify the optimal sampling context(s) for eliciting complex syntax. Conversational, narrative, and expository language samples were elicited from 85 children with typically developing language ages 8;0-11;11 (years;months). Samples were transcribed and analyzed for the mean length of utterance in words and clausal density, or the number of clauses per communication unit as measured by the subordination index. Syntactic measures differed significantly across the three sampling contexts. Namely, narrative and expository language samples elicited longer utterances and more syntactically complex language than conversation samples. Age-related differences in the syntactic measures were not detected. Differences in syntactic measures between conversation and narrative samples and conversation and expository samples within children ages 8-11 years support use of narrative and expository contexts as the most appropriate language sampling contexts for elicitation of complex syntax in school-age children ages 8-11 years. Conversation sampling is unlikely to elicit children's capacities for complex sentence production.

Does the Use of Complex Sentences Differentiate Between Bilinguals With and Without DLD? Evidence From Conversation and Narrative Tasks

Over-identification of language disorder among bilingual children with typical development (TD) is a risk factor in assessment. One strategy for improving assessment accuracy with bilingual children is to determine which linguistic sub-domains differentiate bilingual children with TD from bilingual children with developmental language disorder (DLD). To date, little research on sequential bilinguals with TD and DLD has focussed on complex (multi-clausal) sentences in naturalistic production, even though this is a noted domain of weakness for school-age monolinguals with DLD. Accordingly, we sought to determine if there were differences in the use of complex sentences in conversational and narrative tasks between school-age sequential bilinguals with TD and with DLD at the early stages of L2 acquisition. We administered a conversation and a narrative task to 63 English L2 children with TD and DLD, aged 5–7 years with 2 years of exposure to the L2. Children had diverse first language backgrounds. The L2-TD and L2-DLD groups were matched for age, length of L2 exposure and general L2 proficiency (receptive vocabulary size). Language samples from both tasks were coded and analyzed for the use of complex versus simple sentences, for the distribution of complex sentence types, for clausal density and mean length of utterance (MLU). Complex sentences included coordinated clauses, sentential complement clauses, adverbial clauses and relative clauses. Using regression modelling and PERMANOVA, we found that the L2-TD group produced more complex sentences than the L2-DLD group, with coordinated clauses, adverbial clauses and relative clauses differing the most between the groups. Furthermore, the two groups differed for mean clausal density, but not for MLU, indicating that clausal density and MLU did not estimate identical morphosyntactic abilities. Individual variation in complex sentence production for L2-TD was predicted by longer L2 exposure and task; by contrast, for L2-DLD, it was predicted by older age. This study indicates that complex sentence production is an area of weakness for bilingual children with DLD, as it is for monolinguals with DLD. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Does Electrical Status Epilepticus in Sleep Adversely Affect Language in Self-Limiting Focal Epilepsies of Childhood?

The electrical status epilepticus in sleep (ESES) accompanies a wide spectrum of focal and generalized epilepsies, which manifest with cognitive-linguistic regression. Both ESES and language impairment can be seen in self-limited focal epileptic syndromes of childhood (SFEC). The association between the presence of ESES pattern on the EEG and the severity of the language impairment has not been adequately clarified. Twenty-eight SFEC cases without intellectual and motor disabilities and 32 healthy children were recruited. Cases with active ESES (A-ESES, n=6) and without ESES pattern on EEG (non-ESES, n=22) were compared in terms of clinical features and linguistic parameters by both standard and descriptive assessment tools. The only significantly different clinical feature in the A-ESES group was the increased prevalence of polytherapy. While most of the linguistic parameters were impaired in A-ESES and non-ESES groups compared to healthy controls, A-ESES patients differed from non-ESES patients only in terms of decreased complex sentence production, which was assessed by narrative analysis. A-ESES patients also showed trends toward producing lower numbers of words, nouns, verbs, and adverbs during narrative analysis. There were no differences among patients under polytherapy and monotherapy in terms of these language parameters. Our results show that ESES increases the negative effect of chronic epilepsy on complex sentence and word production. Linguistic distortions that are not reflected in objective tests can be detected by narrative tools. Complex syntactic production obtained by narrative analysis is an important parameter that extensively characterizes language skills in school-age children with epilepsy.

Language Decline Characterizes Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment Independent of Cognitive Decline.

Purpose This research investigated the nature of cognitive decline in prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD), particularly in mild cognitive impairment, amnestic type (aMCI). We assessed language in aMCI as compared with healthy aging (HA) and healthy young (HY) with new psycholinguistic assessment of complex sentences, and we tested the degree to which deficits on this language measure relate to performance in other general cognitive domains such as memory. Method Sixty-one individuals with aMCI were compared with 24 HA and 10 HY adults on a psycholinguistic measure of complex sentence production (relative clauses). In addition, HA, HY, and a subset of the aMCI participants (n = 22) were also tested on a multidomain cognitive screen, the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R), and on a verbal working memory Brown-Peterson (BP) test. General and generalized linear mixed models were used to test psycholinguistic results and to test whether ACE-R and BP performance predicted performance on the psycholinguistic test similarly in the aMCI and HA groups. Results On the psycholinguistic measure, sentence imitation was significantly deficited in aMCI in comparison with that in HA and HY. Experimental factorial designs revealed that individuals with aMCI had particular difficulty repeating sentences that especially challenged syntax-semantics integration. As expected, the aMCI group also performed significantly below the HY and HA groups on the ACE-R. Neither the ACE-R Memory subtest nor the BP total scores predicted performance on the psycholinguistic task for either the aMCI or the HA group. However, the ACE-R total score significantly predicted psycholinguistic task performance, with increased ACE-R performance predicting increased psycholinguistic task performance only for the HA group, not for the aMCI group. Conclusions Results suggest a selective deterioration in language in aMCI, specifically a weakening of syntax-semantics integration in complex sentence processing, and a general independence of this language deficit and memory decline. Results cohere with previous assessments of the nature of difficulty in complex sentence formation in aMCI. We argue that clinical screening for prodromal AD can be strengthened by supplementary testing of language, as well as memory, and extended evaluation of strength of their relation.

New evidence reveals weakening of association between language and thought in aMCI versus in normal aging

AbstractBackgroundClinical manifestation of prodromal AD is typically evaluated through measures that assess individual cognitive domains with less focus on their relationship. Further, while decades of research identify deterioration in episodic memory as well as semantic aspects of language, there has been less focus on other aspects of linguistic computation. We provide evidence that advances our understanding of how language deficits in aMCI extend to sentence production, and how relations between performances in cognitive functions, specifically language and cognition, may differ in aMCI vs. Healthy Aging (HA).MethodWe tested 24 individuals diagnosed with aMCI based on neurologic and neuropsychological evaluations, and 22 older adults with normal cognition (Healthy Aging (HA). All subjects were administered a multi‐domain cognitive screen (ACE‐R) and a psycholinguistic assessment of complex sentence production. The ACE‐R provided a Total Score and scores on attention and orientation, memory, fluency, language, and visuospatial measures (Mioshi et al 2006, Hsieh et al 2013, Monsch et al 1994).) The psycholinguistic test assessed Elicited Imitation of complex sentences with relative clauses (RC) in an experimental design varying syntactic and semantic factors (Table 1) (Lust et al 2017).ResultACE‐R Total score was significantly lower for aMCI than HA. aMCI also performed significantly worse than HA on the psycholinguistic test (Table 2). For HA, not aMCI, ACE‐R Total score significantly predicted successful sentence production on the psycholinguistic test (Table 3) (Figure 1). Similarly, for HA, not aMCI, the ACE‐R language score significantly predicted psycholinguistic test performance. In contrast, ACE‐R memory performance, which was significantly lower for aMCI than HA, did not predict linguistic performance for either group. Only ACE‐R phonemic fluency predicted linguistic performance for both groups. (Table 3).ConclusionResults suggest a weakening of associations between overall cognitive performance and performance on a linguistic measure for aMCI relative to HA suggesting that evaluation of associations between, not only within, cognitive domains strengthen detection of early changes in AD. This finding may be further expanded by linking this clinical manifestation to neuroscientific evidence of functional connectivity in AD pathophysiology and in normal aging (e.g., Brier et al 2014, Spreng and Turner 2013).

The Acquisition of Clause Chaining in Nungon.

The clause chain is an under-investigated complex sentence type, found in hundreds of languages. In a clause chain, as many as 20 or more ‘medial’ clauses with under-specified verbal predicates combine with a single ‘final’ clause with fully-specified verbal predicate. Clause chains are of interest for three main reasons: (a) the special syntactic relationship between clauses, which is neither textbook subordination nor coordination; (b) the potential extreme length of a single chain; and (c) switch-reference marking in clause chains of some languages could require speakers to plan at least one clause ahead as they speak. Research on child production of complex sentences has largely overlooked clause chains. Longitudinal data for three children aged 1;1 to 3;3 acquiring the Papuan language Nungon show that Nungon-speaking children begin producing clause chains around the age of 2;4, with a marked increase in rate of use around age 2;11. Chain length is limited to two clauses until age 3;1. Different-subject marking in medial clauses is used by all three children early, but is first attested in one-clause, ‘root medial’ contexts, rather than in chains. Bayesian statistical models confirm the strong tendency for children to use root medials in expressions of desires and commands. Children’s production of three types of complex sentences—clause chains, subordinated final clauses, and coordinated final clauses—is shown to be subject to the same type of developmental constraint; but once development reaches an adequate level for increased complex sentence production, children acquiring Nungon produce many more clause chains than complex sentences involving subordinated or coordinated final clauses.

Using General Language Performance Measures to Assess Grammar Learning

Grammar is an important goal area for children with language impairment. The current article considers the use of General Language Performance Measures (GLPMs) to assess outcomes for this basic goal area and for 3 intermediate grammar goals that contribute to children's developing ability to construct increasingly longer and more complex sentences: production of word combinations, production of sentences with required and optional constituents, and production of complex sentences. These goals are very important because they address a significant deficit area for children with language impairment and enable these children to increase the informativeness of their utterances. Using GLPMs in addition to session data and probes enables speech–language pathologists to determine whether these forms are being incorporated into conversational speech.

Meta-analysis of Treatment of Underlying Forms: dosage-related and person-level predictors of acquisition and generalization response

Meta-analysis of Treatment of Underlying Forms: dosage-related and person-level predictors of acquisition and generalization response

A Comparison of Two Treatment Approaches for Agrammatic Broca's Aphasia: Script Therapy vs. Verb Network Strengthening Treatment

A Comparison of Two Treatment Approaches for Agrammatic Broca's Aphasia: Script Therapy vs. Verb Network Strengthening Treatment

Metacognitive verb production in adolescents: The link to complex syntax

ABSTRACTMetacognitive verbs (MCVs) such as believe, know and think allow a speaker to describe the thoughts, feelings and perspectives of the self and others. As such, these words reflect the speaker’s awareness of differing mental events and activities, or Theory of Mind (ToM). This study investigated the use of MCVs in adolescents with typical language development in relation to the production of complex sentences. It was of interest to determine the frequency with which adolescents used MCVs and to explore the links between MCVs and different types of subordinate clauses. Language samples that had been collected during previous research involving fables were examined. The results indicated that adolescents frequently used MCVs, particularly during a critical-thinking task, and that MCVs were associated with the production of complex sentences containing various types of subordinate clauses. This information may be useful to speech–language pathologists in their work with adolescents who have language impairments.

Relationship among Complex Sentence Production, Implicit Learning, and Working Memory based on Structural Priming Method in Children with Specific Language Impairment

Objectives: This study investigated a potential intervention strategy for children with specific language impairment (SLI) using structural priming based on syntactic characteristics and the...

ASSESSING SYMPTOMS OF COGNITIVE AND LINGUISTIC DECLINE IN PRODROMAL ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: A NEW STUDY OF MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

Current clinical diagnostics of cognitive impairments potentially leading to AD focus primarily on memory, supplemented by assessments of executive functioning and visuospatial processing. Recent research provides evidence that other cognitive domains, especially language, also may reveal early indicators of prodromal AD. However, the relationship between language and cognitive deficits in this prodromal group has not been explored. Through interdisciplinary, cross-institutional collaboration, we compare results from a new study of an MCI population (N=21) to a matched Healthy Aging (HA) (N=21 and a Healthy Young Adult (HY) (N=10) population on a new series of linguistic tests (complex sentence production) as well as on a clinically established multi-domain cognitive screen (ACE-R). We compare and contrast results across these various neuropsychological cognitive and linguistic results to provide a profile of which deficits do and do not differentiate MCI from HA across this extended cognitive-linguistic testing. Subjects in the three groups differed in total ACE-R score and on our novel linguistic tasks. However, total ACE-R score significantly predicts performance on linguistic tasks only in the HA (T 2.46, df 41, p .02) and not in HY or MCI. Similarly, performance on the ACE-R naming task predicted performance on linguistic measures for HA, not for MCI or HY. Overall cognitive functioning, as measured by screening measures such as the ACE-R does not appear to predict language function in MCI. This suggests that difficulties with language functioning in MCI may be independent of more general cognitive deficits. This in turn suggests that language and cognition may be dissociated in MCI more than in healthy aging or young.

The Effects of Sentence Structure Priming and Number of Sentences on Complex Sentence Production in Children Who Do and Do not Stutter

The Effects of Sentence Structure Priming and Number of Sentences on Complex Sentence Production in Children Who Do and Do not Stutter

Do case and gender information assist sentence comprehension and repetition for German- and Hebrew-speaking children?

Various types of morphological information can serve as cues to assist comprehension and production of complex sentences, i.e., case and/or gender information. These cues are realized differently in different languages, and thus might have different effects.We examined the effects of case and gender information on comprehension and repetition of wh-questions and topicalization sentences, for German- and Hebrew-speaking typically developing children, and compared between the two languages. The participants were typically developing children, 3–6;8 years old, German- and Hebrew-speaking.Comprehension was examined using a picture-matching task and production by using a repetition task. In half of the sentences the two figures were of the same gender and in half – of different genders. In Hebrew this difference manifests on verb agreement and in German – on the determiner. We compared between the children's performance on the different types of sentences, and between sentences with and without the gender/case cues.Findings show the classical subject–object asymmetry in comprehension and repetition, and display a difference between German and Hebrew in the way cues assist comprehension and repetition. We argue that the difference between the facilitating effect of gender and case information relates to whether it is realized on subject–verb agreement or not.

Text exposure predicts spoken production of complex sentences in 8- and 12-year-old children and adults.

There is still much debate about the nature of the experiential and maturational changes that take place during childhood to bring about the sophisticated language abilities of an adult. The present study investigated text exposure as a possible source of linguistic experience that plays a role in the development of adult-like language abilities. Corpus analyses of object and passive relative clauses (Object: The book that the woman carried; Passive: The book that was carried by the woman) established the frequencies of these sentence types in child-directed speech and children's literature. We found that relative clauses of either type were more frequent in the written corpus, and that the ratio of passive to object relatives was much higher in the written corpus as well. This analysis suggests that passive relative clauses are much more frequent in a child's linguistic environment if they have high rates of text exposure. We then elicited object and passive relative clauses using a picture-description production task with 8- and 12-year-old children and adults. Both group and individual differences were consistent with the corpus analyses, such that older individuals and individuals with more text exposure produced more passive relative clauses. These findings suggest that the qualitatively different patterns of text versus speech may be an important source of linguistic experience for the development of adult-like language behavior.