Chapter published in:
Typical and Impaired Processing in MorphosyntaxEdited by Vincent Torrens
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 64] 2020
► pp. 177–207
A syntactically based treatment of relative clauses
Three case studies of Italian children with cochlear implant
Silvia D’Ortenzio | Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Silvia Montino | University of Padua
Alessandro Martini | University of Padua
Patrizia Trevisi | University of Padua
Francesca Volpato | Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
In this paper, we describe three case studies of a syntactic intervention given to three Italian-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs) to improve proficiency in the production and comprehension of relative clauses, and also their narrative skills. The methodology adopted for the syntactic intervention follows previous studies on aphasic patients with agrammatism and children with developmental language disorders (DLD). Indeed, these studies have shown that an explicit teaching of syntactic rules helps in the recovery and improvement of complex structures derived by syntactic movement. Results showed a general improvement in the production and comprehension of relative clauses, and generalization effects to untrained structures. Moreover, also narrative skills improved. Results were maintained several months after the end of the syntactic intervention.
Keywords: language acquisition, relative clauses, narrative skills, syntactic intervention, hearing loss, cochlear implants
Published online: 21 October 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.64.09dor
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.64.09dor
References
References
Adani, F.
Arosio, F., Adani, F., & Guasti, M. T.
Ballard, K. J., & Thompson, C. K.
Belletti, A., & Contemori, C.
Bianchi, V.
Carpenedo, C.
(2011)
On the production of relative clauses by middle school age adolescents: An elicitation experiment
(Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Ca’Foscari University of Venice.
Caselli, M. C., Rinaldi, P., Varuzza, C., Giuliani, A., & Burdo, S.
Chapman, R. S., & Miller, J. F.
Chesi, C.
Chomsky, N.
Cinque, G.
(1988) La frase relativa [The relative clause]. In L. Renzi, G. Salvi, & A. Cardinaletti (Eds.), Grande grammatica italiana di consultazione: I. La frase. I sintagmi nominale e preposizionale [Italian big grammar for consulation: I. Sentence. Nominal Phrases and Prepositional Phrases]. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Contemori, C., & Garraffa, M.
D'Amico, S., Devescovi, A., Marano, A., & Albano, S.
De Nichilo, A.
(2017) Insegnamento esplicito delle strutture sintattiche a movimento: Pronomi clitici, frasi passive e frasi relative in uno studente bengalese con italiano L2 [Explicit teaching of syntactic structures derived by movement: Clitic pronouns, passivee sentences, and relative clauses in a Bengali student with Italiana s L2] (Unpublished MA dissertation). Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
De Villiers, P. A.
Delage, H., & Durrleman, S.
D’Ortenzio, S.
D’Ortenzio, S., Montino, S., Martini, A., & Volpato, F.
(2017) Il trattamento delle frasi relative in un bambino sordo portatore di impianto cocleare [Treatment of relative clauses in a boy with hearing impairment fitted with CI]. In F. M. Dovetto (Ed.), Lingua e patologia. Le frontiere interdisciplinari del linguaggio [Language and pathology. The interdisciplinary frontiers of language] (pp. 273–285). Rome: Aracne.
D’Ortenzio, S., & Volpato, F.
Ebbels, S. H.
Ebbels, S. H., Van der Lely, H. K., & Dockrell, J. E.
Ellis, R.
Friedmann, N., & Novogrodsky R.
Friedmann, N., Novogrodsky, R., Szterman, R., & Preminger, O.
Friedmann, N., & Szterman, R.
Garraffa, M., & Grillo, N.
Gennari, S. P., & MacDonald, M. C.
Grillo, N.
Guasti, M. T., & Cardinaletti, A.
Guasti, M. T., Papagno, C., Vernice, M., Cecchetto, C., Giuliani, A., & Burdo, S.
Guida, M., Fagnani, U., & Ambrosetti, U.
Håkansson, G., & Hansson, K.
Hendriks, P., & Koster, C.
Jacobs, B. J., & Thompson, C. K.
Levy, H., & Friedmann, N.
Manetti, C., & Belletti, A.
Martini, A., Bovo, R., Trevisi, P., Forli, F., & Berrettini, S.
Matthews, D., Lieven, E., Theakston, A., & Tomasello, M.
McClellan, J., Yewchuk, C., & Holdgrafer, G.
Penke, M., & Wimmer, E.
Piccoli, E.
(2018)
Ripetizione e produzione elicitata di frasi complesse in studenti adolescenti con DSA e stranieri. Un protocollo di insegnamento esplicito [Repetition and elicited production of complex sentences in adolescent students with Learninf disorders. A protocol for the explicit teaching] (Unpublished MA dissertation). Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
Pivi, M., Del Puppo, G., & Cardinaletti A.
(2016) The elicited oral production of Italian restrictive relative clauses and cleft sentences in typically developing children and children with developmental dyslexia. In P. Guijarro-Fuentes, M. Juan-Garau, & P. Larrañaga (Eds.) Acquisition of Romance languages (pp. 231–261). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. 

Rinaldi, P., & Caselli, M. C.
Roth, F. P.
Spenader, J., Smits, E. J., & Hendriks, P.
Szterman, R., Friedmann, N.
Thompson, C. K.
Thompson, C. K., & Shapiro, L. P.
Vincenti, V., Bacciu, A., Guida, M., Mara, F., Bertoldi, B., Bacciu, S., & Pasanisi, E.
Volpato, F.
(2010)
The acquisition of relative clauses and phi-features: Evidence from hearing and hearing-impaired populations
(Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
Volpato, F., & Adani, F.
Volpato, F., & Bozzolan, G.
Volpato, F., & Vernice, M.
World Health Organization
(2018) Deafness and hearing loss. Geneva: World Health Organization. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss (3 May, 2020).