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Research Article
August 2014

Pronoun Comprehension in Individuals With Down Syndrome: Deviance or Delay?

Publication: Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
Volume 57, Number 4
Pages 1442-1452

Abstract

Purpose

Results of recent pilot studies suggest that the interpretation of pronouns in individuals with Down syndrome (DS) may follow a pattern unattested in typical development, indicating the presence of a selective deficit targeting the comprehension of reflexive pronouns. These findings come at a time when there is a heated debate surrounding pronoun comprehension in typical development as well. This study aims to contribute to these debates by examining pronoun comprehension in Greek, a language that exhibits unusual patterns in pronoun comprehension in typical development.

Method

Seven Greek-speaking individuals with DS and a control group of 14 typically developing (TD) children were tested. The authors examined the comprehension of strong pronouns, reflexive pronouns, and pronominal clitics, using a picture selection task.

Results

The data reveal evidence of deviant pronoun comprehension in individuals with DS compared with the TD group. The DS group encountered problems in the interpretation of reflexive pronouns when compared with the TD group, while the performance of the two groups was comparable in all remaining conditions.

Conclusions

Findings are in line with the selective deficit model of language comprehension in DS, supporting the presence of a cross-linguistic reflexive deficit.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
Volume 57Number 4August 2014
Pages: 1442-1452
PubMed: 24687043

History

  • Received: Feb 11, 2013
  • Revised: Sep 17, 2013
  • Accepted: Dec 27, 2013
  • Published in issue: Aug 1, 2014

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Keywords

  1. Down syndrome
  2. pronouns
  3. language comprehension

Authors

Affiliations

Eirini Sanoudaki
Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
Spyridoula Varlokosta

Notes

Disclosure: The authors have declared that no competing interests existed at the time of publication.
Correspondence to Eirini Sanoudaki: [email protected]
Editor: Rhea Paul

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Citing Literature

  • Copula Omission in Down Syndrome, Language Learning and Development, 10.1080/15475441.2022.2047687, 19, 1, (49-73), (2022).
  • Delayed but not Deviant: A Challenge, Complex Syntax in the Language of Persons with Down Syndrome, 10.1007/978-3-030-96440-5_6, (75-87), (2022).
  • From First Steps to Full Acquisition: Comprehension of Subjunctive Clauses in Bilectal Children With Down Syndrome and Typical Language Development, Frontiers in Communication, 10.3389/fcomm.2018.00019, 3, (2018).
  • Discourse effects on older children’s interpretations of complement control and temporal adjunct control, Language Acquisition, 10.1080/10489223.2017.1359271, 25, 4, (366-391), (2018).
  • Teasing Apart Explanations of a Developmental Delay in Binding: Experimental Evidence from the Comparison of SLI and Williams Syndrome, Language Acquisition, 10.1080/10489223.2016.1187618, 25, 1, (24-38), (2016).
  • Developmental delays in phonological recoding among children and adolescents with Down syndrome and Williams syndrome, Research in Developmental Disabilities, 10.1016/j.ridd.2016.03.012, 55, (64-76), (2016).
  • Syntactic comprehension and working memory in children with specific language impairment, autism or Down syndrome, Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 10.3109/02699206.2015.1027831, 29, 7, (499-522), (2015).
  • Production and comprehension of pronouns and reflexives in atypical populations, The Acquisition of Reference, 10.1075/tilar.15.12cho, (285-309), (2015).
  • Intact grammar in HFA? Evidence from control and binding, Lingua, 10.1016/j.lingua.2015.06.009, 164, (68-86), (2015).
  • Task Effects in the Interpretation of Pronouns, Language Acquisition, 10.1080/10489223.2014.928297, 22, 1, (40-67), (2014).

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