Chapter published in:
The Acquisition of Referring Expressions: A dialogical approach
Edited by Anne Salazar-Orvig, Geneviève de Weck, Rouba Hassan and Annie Rialland
[Trends in Language Acquisition Research 28] 2021
► pp. 142–161

Chapter 5
Referring expressions and developmental language disorders

| Université de Montréal
| Université de Neuchâtel
| Université de Neuchâtel
| Université de Lorraine
| Université de Neuchâtel
This study investigated the relation between morphosyntactic and discourse-pragmatic features in the production of referential expressions by French-speaking children with developmental language disorders (DLD) as compared to their typically developing peers (TD). Fifteen TD children and 15 children with DLD, age 4;6 to 7;5 were asked to tell a picture-book story with their mother. The type of referring expression, the position in the referential chain, and the syntactic function were coded. Both groups of children were sensitive to discourse and syntax. Children with DLD differed from their peers in the use of object clitic pronouns in subsequent mentions, the proportion of nouns produced without a determiner, and null subjects. Null subjects only appeared in a particular discursive and pragmatic context.
Keywords: developmental language disorders, clitic pronouns, nouns, discourse, morphosyntax
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Procedure
    • 2.3Coding
      • Type of referring expressions
      • Position in the referential chain
      • Syntactic function
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Discursive and syntactic effects on the use of clitic pronouns
    • 3.2Effects of the position in the referential chain on nouns without a determiner, and on null subjects
  • 4.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 16 June 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/tilar.28.05rez
References
Allen, S. E. M., Hughes, M. E. & Skarabela, B.
(2015) The role of cognitive accessibility in children’s referential choice. In L. Serratrice & S. E. M. Allen (Eds.), The acquisition of reference (pp. 123–153). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ariel, M.
(1990) Accessing noun-phrase antecedents. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bally, C.
(1932) Linguistique générale et linguistique française. Berne: Francke.Google Scholar
Bishop, D. V. M., Snowling, M. J., Thompson, P. A., Greenhalgh, T., & The CATALISE-2 consortium
(2017) Phase 2 of CATALISE: A multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study of problems with language development: Terminology. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 58(10), 1068–1080. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Blom, E., & Baayen, H. R.
(2013) The impact of verb form, sentence position, home language, and second language proficiency on subject-verb agreement in child second language Dutch. Applied Psycholinguistics, 34(4), 777–811. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bortolini, U., Arfé, B., Caselli, M. C., Degasperi, L., Deevy, P., & Leonard, B. L.
(2006) Clinical markers for specific language impairment in Italian: The contribution of clitics and non-word repetition. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 21(6), 695–712. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bortolini, U., Caselli, M. C., Deevy, P., & Leonard, B. L.
(2002) Specific language impairment in Italian: The first steps in the search for a clinical marker. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 37(2), 77–93. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Botting, N.
(2002) Narrative as a tool for the assessment of linguistic and pragmatic impairments. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 18(1), 1–21. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, A., Brooks, P., & Tomasello, M.
(2000) Factors affecting young children’s use of pronouns as referring expressions. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 43, 1337–1349. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chevrie-Muller, C., & Plaza, M.
(2001) Nouvelles Épreuves pour l’Examen du Langage (N-EEL). Paris: Les Editions du Centre de Psychologie Appliquée.Google Scholar
da Silva-Genest, C., Marcos, H., Salazar Orvig, A., Caët, S., & Heurdier, J.
(2021) Young children’s uses of referring expressions. In A. Salazar Orvig, G. de Weck, R. Hassan, & A. Rialland (Eds.), The acquisition of referring expressions: A dialogical approach (pp. XXX–YYY). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. (This volume). CrossrefGoogle Scholar
de Weck, G.
(1991) La cohésion dans les textes d’enfants. Neuchâtel/Paris: Delachaux/Niestlé.Google Scholar
(2004a) La cohésion anaphorique chez de jeunes enfants présentant des troubles du développement du langage. CALAP, 24, 83–99.Google Scholar
(2004b) Les troubles pragmatiques et discursifs dans la dysphasie. Enfance, 56(1), 91–106. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
de Weck, G., Hassan, R., Heurdier, J., Klein, J., & Salagnac, N.
(2021) Activities and social settings: Their roles in the use of referring expressions. In A. Salazar Orvig, G. de Weck, R. Hassan, & A. Rialland (Eds.), The acquisition of referring expressions: A dialogical approach (pp. XXX–YYY). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. (This volume). CrossrefGoogle Scholar
de Weck, G., & Jullien, S.
(2013) How do French-speaking children with Specific Language Impairment first mention a referent in storytelling? Between reference and grammar. Journal of Pragmatics, 56, 70–87. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
de Weck, G., & Rosat, M.-C.
(2003) Troubles dysphasiques. Comment raconter, relater, faire agir à l’âge préscolaire. Paris: Masson.Google Scholar
Delage, H., Monjauze, C., Hamann, C., & Tuller, L.
(2008) Relative clauses in atypical acquisition of French. Paper presented at the Language acquisition and development: Proceedings of GALA 2007.
Fletcher, P.
(2009) Syntax in child language disorders. In R. G. Schwartz (Ed.), Handbook of child language disorders (pp. 388–405). New York, NY: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Fletcher, P., & Garman, M.
(2009) Normal language development and language impairment: Syntax and beyond. Language Teaching, 2(2), 97–113.Google Scholar
Givón, T.
(1995) Functionalism and grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Grüter, T.
(2005) Comprehension and production of French object clitics by child second language learners and children with specific language impairment. Applied Psycholinguistics, 26(03), 363–391. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hadi, A. S.
(2006) Simple linear regression. In S. Chatterjee & A. S. Hadi (Eds.), Regression analysis by example (4th ed., pp. 21–51). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Hamann, C., Ohayon, S., Dubé, S., Frauenfelder, U., Rizzi, L., Starke, M., & Zesiger, P.
(2003) Aspects of grammatical development in young French children with SLI. Developmental Science, 6, 151–158. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hamann, C., Tuller, L., Monjauze, C., Delage, H., & Henry, C.
(2007) (Un)successful subordination in French-speaking children and adolescents with SLI. In H. Caunt-Nulton, S. Kulatilake & I. Woo (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 286–297). Somerville MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Hickmann, M.
(2003) Children’s discourse, person, space and time across languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hosmer, D. W., Lemeshow, S. & Sturdivant, R. X.
(2013) IAssessing the Fit of the Model. In D. W. Hosmer, S. Lemeshow & R. X. Sturdivant (Eds.), Applied logistic regression (pp. 153–226). New York, NY: John Wiley & Son. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, M., & Allen, S. E. M.
(2013) The effect of individual discourse-pragmatic features on referential choice in child English. Journal of Pragmatics, 56, 15–31. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2015) The incremental effect of discourse-pragmatic sensitivity on referential choice in the acquisition of a first language. Lingua, 155, 43–61. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jakubowicz, C.
(2003) Hypothèses psycholinguistiques sur la nature du déficit dysphasique. In C.-L. Gérard, V. Brun & C. C. Auché-Le-Magny (Eds.), Les dysphasies (pp. 23–70). Paris: Masson.Google Scholar
Jakubowicz, C., & Nash, L.
(2001) Functional categories and syntactic operations in (ab)normal language acquisition. Brain and Language, 77, 321–339. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jakubowicz, C., Nash, L., Rigault, C., & Gérard, C.-L.
(1998) Determiners and clitic pronouns in French-speaking children with SLI. Language Acquisition, 7, 113–160. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jakubowicz, C., & Tuller, L.
(2009) Specific language impairment in French. In D. Ayoun (Ed.), Studies in French Applied Linguistics (pp. 97–134). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Karmiloff-Smith, A.
(1985) Language and cognitive processes from a developmental perspective. Language and Cognitive Processes, 1(1), 61–85. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kunnari, S., Savinainen-Makkonen, T., Leonard, L. B., Mäkinen, L., Tolonen, A. K., Luotonen, M., & Leinonen, E.
(2011) Children with specific language impairment in Finnish: The use of tense and agreement inflections. Journal of Child Language, 38(5), 999–1027. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lambrecht, K.
(1987) On the status of SVO sentences in French discourse. In R. S. Tomlin (Ed.), Coherence and grounding in discourse: Outcome of a symposium, Eugene, Oregon, June 1984 (pp. 217–261). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2001) Dislocation. In M. Haspelmath (Ed.), Language Typology and Language Universals, 2 (1050–1078). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Leonard, L. B.
(2013) Specific language impairment across languages. Child Development Perspectives, 8(1), 1–5. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Liles, B. Z.
(1985) Cohesion in the narratives of normal and language-disordered children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 28, 123–133. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Marcos, H., Salazar Orvig, A., da Silva-Genest, C., & Heurdier, J.
(2021) The influence of dialogue in young children’s uses of referring expressions. In A. Salazar Orvig, G. de Weck, R. Hassan, & A. Rialland (Eds.), The acquisition of referring expressions: A dialogical approach (pp. XXX–YYY). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. (This volume). CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Masterson, J. J.
(1997) Interrelationships in children’s language production. Topics in Language Disorders, 17(4), 11–22. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, D., Lieven, E., Theakston, A. L., & Tomasello, M.
(2006) The effect of perceptual availability and prior discourse on young children’s use of referring expressions. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 403–422. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Paradis, J., & Crago, M. B.
(2001) The morphosyntax of specific language impairment in French: Evidence for an extended optional default account. Language Acquisition, 5(1), 19–38. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Paradis, J., Crago, M. B., Genesee, F., & Rice, M. L.
(2003) Bilingual children with specific language impairment: How do they compare with their monolingual peers? Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 1–15. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Paul, R., Hernandez, R., Taylor, L., & Johnson, K.
(1996) Narrative development in late talkers: Early school age. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 39, 1295–1303. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pirvulescu, M., Pérez-Leroux, A. T., Roberge, Y., & Strik, N.
(2012) Clitic production across tasks in young French-speaking children. In Proceedings of the 36th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 461–473). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Prigent, G., Parisse, C., Leclercq, A.-L., & Maillart, C.
(2015) Complexity markers in morphosyntactic productions in French-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI). Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 29(8–10), 701–718. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ratner, N. B.
(2000) Elicited imitation and other methods for the analysis of trade-offs between speech and language skills in children. In L. Menn & N. B. Ratner (Eds.), Methods for studying language production (pp. 291–312). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Royle, P., & Thordardottir, E. T.
(2008) Elicitation of the passé composé in French preschoolers with and without specific language impairment. Applied Psycholinguistics, 29(3), 341–365. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Royle, P., & Stine, I.
(2013) The French noun phrase in preschool children with SLI: Morphosyntactic and error analyses. Journal of Child Language, 40(5), 945–970. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Salazar Orvig, A., & de Weck, G.
(2013) L’étude des pronoms à l’interface de la grammaire et de la pragmatique: L’Exemple de la dysphasie. L’Information Grammaticale, 138, 9–18. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Salazar Orvig, A., Marcos, H., Morgernstern, A., Hassan, R., Leber-Marin, J., & Parès, J.
(2010a) Dialogical beginnings of anaphora: The use of third person pronouns before the age of 3. Journal of Pragmatics, 42(7), 1842–1865. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2010b) Dialogical factors in toddler’s use of clitic pronouns. First Language, 30, 374–402. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schaeffer, J.
(2003) Pragmatics and SLI. In Y. Levy & J. Schaeffer (Eds.), Language competence across populations: Toward a definition of specific language impairment (pp. 135–150). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Schelletter, C., & Leinonen, E.
(2003) Normal and language-impaired children’s use of reference: Syntactic versus pragmatic processing. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 17(4–5), 335–343. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, P., & Hayward, D.
(2010) Who does what to whom: Introduction of referents in children’s storytelling from pictures. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 41, 459–473. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Serratrice, L.
(2005) The role of discourse pragmatics in the acquisition of subjects in Italian. Applied Psycholinguisitics, 26, 437–462. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2008) The role of discourse and perceptual cues in the choice of referential expressions in English preschoolers, school-age children and adults. Language Learning and Development, 4(4), 309–332. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Strong, C. J.
(1998) The strong narrative assessment procedure. Eau Claire, WI: Thinking Publications.Google Scholar
Thordardottir, E. T., & Namazi, M.
(2007) Specific language impairment in French-speaking children: Beyond grammatical morphology. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50, 698–715. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tuller, L., Delage, H., Monjauze, C., Piller, A.-G., & Barthez, M.-A.
(2011) Clitic pronoun production as a measure of typical language development in French: A comparative study of SLI, mild-to-moderate deafness and benign epilepsy of childhood with centrotemporal spikes. Lingua, 121, 423–444. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Van der Velde, M.
(2003) Déterminants et pronoms en Néerlandais et en Français: Syntaxe et acquisition (PhD dissertation). Université Paris 8 Vincennes, St Denis, France.Google Scholar
Wittek, A., & Tomasello, M.
(2005) Young children’s sensitivity to listener knowledge and perceptual context in choosing referring expressions. Applied Psycholinguistics, 26, 541–558. CrossrefGoogle Scholar