Cover not available
Part of
Structuring Variation in Romance Linguistics and Beyond: In honour of Leonardo M. Savoia
Edited by Mirko Grimaldi, Rosangela Lai, Ludovico Franco and Benedetta Baldi
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 252] 2018
► pp. 365–378

Chapter 25
Remarks on the vulnerability of grammar

| University of Pisa
This paper deals with the special status of morphological features in a series of contexts that are crucial for the understanding of the architecture of human grammar: language pathology and impairment, L1/L2 acquisition, language evolution, language contact. The critical review of data referring to different domains and to different languages enlightens the special vulnerability of morphology. In language impairments, as well as in communicative exchanges occurring in multilingual contexts, morphological categories are not perfectly acquired. Empirical evidence relative to atypical contexts shows a peculiar asymmetry in the structure of language: alongside early development and strength of lexicon and phonology, late appearance and vulnerability of morphology. However, the weakness of morphology does not imply a minor role of this component into the grammar.
Keywords: faculty of language, morphology, language pathology, specific language impairment, language acquisition
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Language pathologies
  • 3.Language pathologies and memory
  • 4.Morphology in language acquisition
  • 5.Language evolution
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgment
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 19 December 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.252.25mar
References (76)
References
Banfi, Emanuele (ed.). 2013. Sull’origine del linguaggio e delle lingue storico-naturali. Roma: Bulzoni.Google Scholar
Bickerton, Derek. 1990. Language and Species, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
. 2007. Language evolution: A brief guide for linguists. Lingua 117: 510–526.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bishop, Dorothy V. M. 2002. The role of genes in the etiology of specific language impairment. Journal of Communication Disorders 35(4): 311–328.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2004. Specific language impairment: Diagnostic dilemma. In Classification of Developmental Language Disorders: Theoretical Issues and Clinical Implication, Ludo Verhoeven & Hans van Balkom (eds), 309–326. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Bishop, Dorothy V. M., Carlyon, Robert P., Deeks John M. & Bishop, Shawn J. 1999. Auditory temporal processing impairment: Neither necessary nor sufficient for causing language impairment in children, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 42: 1295–1310.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bishop, Dorothy V. M. & Snowling, Margaret J. 2004. Developmental dyslexia and specific language impairment: Same or different? Psychological Bulletin 130(6): 858–886.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bortolini, Umberta, Arfé, Barbara, Caselli, Maria Cristina, Degasperi, Luisa, Deevy, Patricia & Leonard, Laurence B. 2006. Clinical markers for specific language impairment in Italian: The contribution of clitics and non-word repetition. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 41: 695–712.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bortolini, Umberta, Leonard, Laurence B. & Caselli, Maria Cristina. 1998. Specific language impairment in Italian and English: Evaluating alternative accounts of grammatical deficits, Language and Cognitive Processes 13(1): 1–20.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bottari, Piero, Cipriani, Paola, Chilosi, Anna Maria & Pfanner, Lucia. 1998. The determiner system in a group of Italian children with SLI. Language Acquisition 7(2): 285–315.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bradley, L. & P. Bryant. 1983. Categorizing sounds and learning to read. A causal connection. Nature 301: 419–421.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bryant, P. 1995. Phonological and grammatical skills in learning to read. In Speech and Reading. A Comparative Approach, Beatrice de Gelder & José Morais(eds). Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Byrne, Brian. 1981. Deficient syntactic control in poor reader. Is a week phonetic memory code responsible? Applied Psycholinguistics 2: 201–212.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cardinaletti, Anna & Volpato, Francesca. 2015. On the comprehension and production of passive sentences and relative clauses by Italian university students with dyslexia. In Structure, Strategies, and Beyond: Studies in Honour of Adriana Belletti [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 223, Elisa Di Domenico, Cornelia Hamann & Simona Matteini (eds), 279–301. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carruthers, Peter. 2006. The Architecture of the Mind. Oxford: OUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1988, Language and Problems of Knowledge. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Dehaene, Stanislas & Cohen, Laurent. 2011. The unique role of the visual word form area in reading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 15(6): 254–262.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Denckla, Martha Bridge & Rudel, Rita G. 1976. Rapid automatized naming (R.A.N.): Dyslexia differentiated from other learning disabilities. Neuropsychologia 14(4): 471–479.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Elbro, Carsten. 1996. Early linguistic abilities and reading development: A review and a hypothesis about underlying differences in distinctiveness of phonological representations of lexical items. Reading and Writing 8: 453–485.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fiorin, Gaetano. 2010. Meaning and Dyslexia: A Study on Pronouns, Aspect, and Quantification. Utrecht: LOT.Google Scholar
Fitch, W. Tecumseh. 2010. The Evolution of Language. Cambridge: CUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fitch, W. Tecumseh, Hauser, Marc D. & Chomsky, Noam. 2005. The evolution of language faculty: Clarifications and implications. Cognition 97: 179–210.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fodor, Jerry A. 1983. The Modularity of Mind: An Essay on Faculty Psychology. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
2000. The Mind Doesn't Work That Way. Cambridge MA: DThe MIT Press.Google Scholar
Gallagher, Alison M., Frith, Uta & Snowling, Margaret J. 2000. Precursors of literacy delay among children at genetic risk of dyslexia. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatrics 41: 203–211.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Giacalone Ramat, Anna (ed.). 1986. L’apprendimento spontaneo di una seconda lingua. Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar
(ed.). 1988. L’italiano tra le altre lingue. Strategie di acquisizione. Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar
(ed.). 2003. Verso l’italiano. Strategie di acquisizione. Roma: Carocci.Google Scholar
. 2006. Acquisizione della morfologia di italiano L2. In Zhi. Scritti in onore di Emanuele Banfi, Nicola Grandi & Gabriele Iannaccaro (eds). Roma: Caissa.Google Scholar
Gooch, Debbie, Hulme, Charles, Nash, Hannah M. & Snowling, Margaret J. 2014. Comorbidities in preschool children at family risk of dyslexia. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 55/3, 237–246.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gopnik Myrna & Crago, Martha B. 1991, Familial aggregation of a developmental language disorder. Cognition 39: 1–50.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grodzinsky, Yosef. 2000. The neurology of syntax. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23: 1–71.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005. Syntactic dependencies as memorized sequences in the brain. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 50: 241–266.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grodzinsky, Yosef & Amunts, Katrin. 2006. Broca’s Region. Oxford: OUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guasti, Maria Teresa. 2004. Language Acquisition. The Growth of Grammar. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
. 2013. Oral skills deficit in children with Developmental Dyslexia. InAdvances in Language Acquisition, Stavroula Stavrakaki, Marina Lalioti & Polyxini Konstantinopoulou (eds), 416–424. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
Guasti, Maria Teresa, Branchini, Chiara, Vernice, Mirta, Barbieri, Lina & Arosio, Fabrizio. 2015. Language disorders in children with Developmental Dyslexia. In Specific Language Impairment. Current Trends in Research [Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 58], Stavroula Stavrakaki (ed.), 35–55. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hauser, Marc, Chomsky, Noam & Fitch, W. Tecumseh. 2002. The faculty of language: What is it, Who has it, and How did it Evolve? Science 298: 1569–1579.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hedwig, Daniela, Mundry, Roger, Robbins, Martha M. & Boesch, Christoph. 2015. Contextual correlates of syntactic variation in mountain and western gorilla close-distance vocalizations: Indications for lexical or phonological syntax? Animal Cognition 18: 423–435.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray. 1999. Possible stages in the evolution of the language capacity. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 3(7): 272–279.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2002. Foundations of Language: Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution. Oxford: OUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2013. Constructions in the parallel architecture. In The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar, Thomas Hoffmann & Graeme Trousdale (eds), 70–92. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray & Vitteberg, Eva. 2017. Linear grammar as a possible stepping-stone in the evolution of language. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 24: 219–224.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jakubowicz, Celia. 2003. Computational complexity and the acquisition of functional categories by French-speaking children with SLI. Linguistics 41(2): 175–211.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jakubowicz, Celia, Nash, Léa, Rigaut, Catherine & Gérard, Cristohphe-Loic. 1998. Determiners and clitic pronouns in French-speaking children with SLI. Language Acquisition 7: 113–160.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Klein, Wolfgang & Perdue, Clive. 1997. The basic variety (or: Couldn't natural languages be much simpler? Second Language Research 13(4): 301–347.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Labov, William. 1972. Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular. Philadelphia PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Lai, C. S., Fisher, S. E., Hurst, J. A., Vargha-Khadem, F. & Monaco, A. P. 2001. A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder. Nature 413: 519–523.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leonard, Laurence B. 1981. Facilitating linguistic skills in children with Specific Language Impairment, Applied Psycholinguistics 2(2): 89–118.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1998. Children with Specific Language Impairment. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Marotta, Giovanna. 2017. Dislessia, grammatica e dintorni. In Lingua e patologia. Le frontiere interdisciplinari del linguaggio, Francesca M. Dovetto (ed.), 85–113. Roma: Aracne.Google Scholar
Marotta, Giovanna & Meini. 2012. Spatial Prepositions in Italian L2. In Space and Time in Languages and Cultures: Linguistic Diversity [Human Cognitive Processing 36], Luna Filipovic & Katarzyna M. Jaszczolt (eds), 289–324. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marslen-Wilson, William & Tyler, Lorraine Komisarjevsky. 1987. Against modularity. In Modularity in Knowledge Representation and Natural Language Understanding, Jay L. Garfield (ed.). Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Meillet, Antoine. 1919. Le genre grammatical et l’élimination de la flexion. Scientia 25. Reprinted in Idem, Linguistique historique et linguistique générale, Vol. I, 1–18. Paris: Champion.Google Scholar
Michaelis, Susanne M., Maurer, Philippe, Haspelmath, Martin & Huber, Magnus (eds). 2013. The Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2001. What is African American English?, In Sociocultural and Historical Contexts of African American English [Varieties of English Around the World G27], Sonja L. Lanehart (ed.), 21–52. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nicolson, Roderick I. & Fawcett, Angela J. 2008. Dyslexia, Learning, and the Brain. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pennisi, Antonio & Falzone, Allesandra. 2010. Il prezzo del linguaggio. Evoluzione ed estinzione nelle scienze cognitive. Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar
Pinker, Steven & Bloom, Paul. 1990. Natural language and natural selection, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13: 707–784.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pivi, Margherita & Del Puppo, Giorgia. 2015. L’acquisizione delle frasi relative restrittive in bambini italiani con sviluppo tipico e con dislessia evolutiva. In Grammatica applicata: Apprendimento, patologie, insegnamento, Maria Elena Favilla & Elena Nuzzo (eds), 59–73. Milano: Officinaventuno.Google Scholar
Rispens, Judith E. 2004. Syntactic and Phonological Processing in Developmental Dyslexia. PhD dissertation, University of Groningen.Google Scholar
Rispens, Judith E. & Been, Pieter. 2007. Subject-verb agreement and phonological processing in developmental dyslexia and SLI: A closer look. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 42(3): 293–305.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scarborough, Hollis S. 1990. Very early language deficits in dyslexic children. Child Development 61: 1728–1743.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1991. Antecedents to reading disability: Preschool language development and literacy experiences of children from dyslexic families. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 3: 219–233.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Seuren, Pieter & Wekker, Herman. 1986. Semantic transparency as a factor in creole genesis. In Substrata Versus Universals in Creole Genesis, Muysken and Smith (eds), 57–70, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scott-Phillips, Thomas C. 2016. Meaning in great ape communication: Summarising the debate. Animal Cognition 19: 233–238.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Simone, R. 1988. “Fragilità” della morfologia e “contesti turbati”. In L’italiano tra le altre lingue. Strategie di acquisizione, A. Giacalone Ramat (cur.), 91–98, Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar
Snowling, Margaret J. 2000. Dyslexia. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Tallal, P. & Piercy, M. 1973. Defects of non-verbal auditory perception in children with developmental aphasia. Nature 241: 468–469.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ullman, Michael T. 2001. The declarative/procedural model of lexicon and grammar. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 30(1): 37–69.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2004. Contributions of memory circuits to language: The declarative/procedural model. Cognition 92: 231–270.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vellutino, Frank R., Fletcher, Jack M., Snowling, Margaret J. & Scanlon, Donna M. 2004. Specific Reading disability (dyslexia): What have we learned in the past four decades? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 45: 2–40.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Waltzman, Dava E. & Cairns, Helen S. 2000. Grammatical knowledge of third grade good and poor readers. Applied Psycholinguistics 21: 263–284.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weinreich, Uriel. 1953. Language in Contact. Findings and Problems. New York NY: Linguistic Circle of New York.Google Scholar
Zachou, Angeliki, Partesana, Enrica, Tenca, Emanuela & Guasti, Maria Teresa. 2013. Production and comprehension of direct object clitics and definite articles by Italian children with Developmental Dyslexia. In Advances in Language Acquisition, Stavroula Stavrakaki, Marina Lalioti & Polyxeni Kostantinopoulou (eds), 464–471, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
Zuberbühler, Klaus. 2015. Linguistic capacity of non-human animals. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science 6: 313–321.Google Scholar