Cover not available
Part of
Syntactic Priming in Language Acquisition: Representations, mechanisms and applications
Edited by Katherine Messenger
[Trends in Language Acquisition Research 31] 2022
► pp. 183–202

Chapter 9
Syntactic priming as a window to investigate grammatical learning in non-typical populations

| University of East Anglia
| University of East Anglia | Fondazione Marica De Vincenzi ONLUS

Syntactic priming is a useful tool for investigating grammatical learning in both children and adults with language impairment. The studies discussed in this chapter combine psycholinguistic methods and theoretical approaches for advancing our knowledge of language pathologies, elucidating some of the mechanisms of grammatical learning that could be at the core of the language impairment. The first part of the chapter discusses experimental studies on syntactic priming in children with a developmental language disorder (DLD), with a focus on the learning mechanisms that support the acquisition of grammatical structures in these children, structures that are otherwise rare in input and output. The second part of the chapter discusses the use of priming in the investigation of acquired language disorders in adults, when language has already been acquired and access is assumed to be the chief problem.

Keywords: Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), Aphasia, clinical marker, syntactic priming, relative clauses, implicit learning, passive, sentence repetition, cumulative learning, immediate priming
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Clinical markers: Why is structural priming a good candidate
  • 3.Grammatical learning in children with DLD: The contribution of syntactic priming
    • 3.1Priming syntax in children with DLD
    • 3.2From immediate priming to implicit learning
  • 4.Structural priming in aphasia: A rationale for the adaptation
  • 5.Conclusions and future directions
  • References
Published online: 29 September 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tilar.31.09gar
References
Archibald, L. & Joanisse, M. F.
(2009) On the sensitivity and specificity of nonword repetition and sentence recall to language and memory impairments in children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52(4), 899–914. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baddeley, A.
(2003) Working memory: looking back and looking forward. Nature reviews neuroscience, 4(10), 829–839. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bastiansee, R.
(1995) Broca’s aphasia: A syntactic and/or a morphological disorder: A case study. Brain & Language, 48(1), 1–32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bencini, G. M. L., & Valian, V.
(2008) Abstract sentence representation in 3-year-olds: Evidence from comprehension and production. Journal of Memory and Language, 59, 97–113. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bishop, D., Adam, C. V., & Rosen, S.
(2006) Resistance of grammatical impairment to computerized comprehension training in children with specific and non-specific language impairments. International Journal of Communication disorders, 41(1), 19–40. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bock, J. K.
(1986) Syntactic persistence in language production. Cognitive Psychology, 18, 355–387. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bortolini, U., Arfé, B., Caselli, M. C., Degasperi, L., Deevy, P., & Leonard, L. B.
(2006) Clinical markers for specific language impairment in Italian: The contribution of clitics and non-word repetition. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 41, 695–712. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bortolini, U., Caselli, C., Deevy, P., & Leonard, L. B.
(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. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Botting, N., & Conti-Ramsden, G.
(2001) Non-word repetition and language development in children with specific language impairment (SLI). International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 36(4), 421–432. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Branigan, H. P., Pickering, M. J., & Cleland, A. A.
(2000) Syntactic priming in written production: Evidence for rapid decay. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 6, 535–540.Google Scholar
Branigan, H. P., Pickering, M. J., Liversedge, S., Stewart, A., & Urbach, T.
(1995) Syntactic priming: Investigating the mental representation of language. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 24, 489–506. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Branigan, H. P., & Messenger, K.
(2016) Consistent and cumulative effects of syntactic experience in children’s sentence production: Evidence for error-based implicit learning. Cognition, 157, 250–256. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Casalini, C., Brizzolara, D., Chilosi, A., Cipriani, P., Marcolini, S., Pecini, C., Roncoli, S., & Burani, C.
(2007) Non-word repetition in children with specific language impairment: A deficit in phonological working memory or in long-term verbal knowledge? Cortex, 43, 769–776. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cho-Reyes, S., Mack, J. E. & Thompson, C. K.
(2016) Grammatical encoding and learning in agrammatic aphasia: Evidence from structural priming. Journal of Memory and Language, 91, 202–218. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clahsen, H.
(1989) The grammatical characterization of developmental dysphasia. Linguistics, 27, 897–920. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coco, M., Garraffa, M., & Branigan, H.
(2012) A Bayesian analysis of subject relative production in SLI children during syntactic priming and sentence repetition. In N. Miyake, D. Peebles, & R. P. Cooper (Eds.), 34th annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Building bridges across cognitive sciences around the world, Sapporo Japan, 1–4 August 2012 (pp. 228–233). Curran Associates.Google Scholar
Contemori, C., & Garraffa, M.
(2010) Comparison of modalities in SLI syntax: A study on the comprehension and production of non-canonical sentences. Lingua, 120, 1950–1965. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Conti-Ramsden, G.
(2003) Processing and Linguistic Markers in Young Children With Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 1029–1037. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Conti-Ramsden, G., Botting, N., & Faragher, B.
(2001) Psycholinguistic markers for specific language impairment (SLI). Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 42(6), 741–748. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Devescovi, A., & Caselli, C.
(2007) Sentence repetition as a measure of early grammatical development in Italian. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 42(2), 187–208. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dispaldro, M., Leonard, L. B., & Deevy, P.
(2013) Real-word and nonword repetition in Italian-speaking children with specific language impairment: A study of diagnostic accuracy. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 56, 323–336. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dollaghan, C., & Campbell, T. F.
(1998) Nonword repetition and child language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 41(5), 1136–1146. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Garraffa, M., & Grillo, N.
(2008) Canonicity effects as a grammatical phenomenon. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 21(2), 177–197. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Garraffa, M., Coco, M., & Branigan, H.
(2015) Effects of immediate and cumulative syntactic experience in language impairment: Evidence from priming of subject relatives in children with SLI. Language Learning and Development, 11(1), 18–40. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2018) Impaired implicit learning of syntactic structure in children with language impairment: Evidence from structural priming. Autism and Developmental Language Impairment, 3, 1–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Garraffa, M., Vender, M., Sorace, A., & Guasti, M. T.
(2019) Is it possible to differentiate multilingual children and children with developmental language disorder? Languages, Society and Policy. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gathercole, S. E.
(2006) Complexities and constraints in nonword repetition and word learning. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 599–613. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gathercole, S. E., & Baddeley, A. D.
(1990a) Phonological memory deficits in language disordered children: Is there a causal connection? Journal of Memory & Language, 29, 336–360. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1990b) The role of phonological memory in vocabulary acquisition: A study of young children learning new names. British Journal of Psychology, 81, 439–454. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haarmann, H. J., & Kolk, H. H.
(1991) Syntactic priming in Broca’s aphasics: Evidence for slow activation. Aphasiology, 5, 247–263. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Håkansson, G., & Hansson, K.
(2000) Comprehension and production of relative clauses: A comparison between Swedish impaired and unimpaired children. Journal of Child Language 27, 313–333. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jakubowicz, C., Nash, L., Rigaut, C., & Gérard, C.-L.
(1998) Determiners and clitic pronouns in French-speaking children with SLI. Language Acquisition, 7, 113–160. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kidd, E.
(2012) Individual differences in syntactic priming in language acquisition. Applied Psycholinguistics, 33(2), 393–418. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kolk, H.
(2006) How language adapts to the brain: An analysis of agrammatic aphasia. In L. Progrovac, K. Paesani, E. Casielles, & E. Barton (Eds.), The syntax of nonsententials: Multidisciplinary perspectives (pp. 229–258). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, J., Hosokawa, E., Meehan, S., Martin, N., & Branigan, H.
(2019) Priming sentence comprehension in aphasia: Effects of lexically independent and specific structural priming. Aphasiology, 33(7), 780–802. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leonard, L.
(1998) Children with specific language impairment. The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Leonard, L. B., Weismer, S. E., Miller, C. A., Francis, D. J., Tomblin, J. B., & Kail, R.
(2007) Speed of processing, working memory, and language impairment in children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50, 408–428. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Levelt, W. J., & Kelter, S.
(1982) Surface form and memory in question answering. Cognitive Psychology, 14(1), 78–106. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Linebarger, M. C., Schwartz, M. F., Romania, J. R., Kohn, S. E. & Stephens, D. L.
(2000) Grammatical encoding in aphasia: Evidence from a “processing prosthesis”. Brain and Language, 75, 416–427. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lombardi, L., & Potter, M. C.
(1992) The regeneration of syntax in short-term memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 31(6), 713–733. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mak, W. M., Vonk, W., & Schriefers, H.
(2002) The influence of animacy on relative clause processing. Memory and Language, 47, 50–68. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Man, G., Branigan, H., & Lee, J.
(2018) Effects of verb overlap on immediate and lasting structural priming in healthy aging and aphasia. Presented at the Clinical Aphasiology Conference, Austin, TX.
Messenger, K., Branigan, H. P., McLean, J. F., & Sorace, A.
(2012) Is young children’s passive syntax semantically constrained? Evidence from syntactic priming. Journal of Memory and Language, 66, 568–587. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Messenger, K., Branigan, H. P., & McLean, J. F.
(2011) Evidence for (shared) abstract structure underlying children’s short and full passives. Cognition, 121, 268–274. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miller, C. A., & Deevy, P.
(2006) Structural priming in children with and without specific language impairment. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 20, 387–399. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montgomery, J. W.
(1995) Sentence comprehension in children with specific language impairment: The role of phonological working memory. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 38, 187–199. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montgomery, J. W.
(2003) Working memory and comprehension in children with specific language impairment: What we know so far. Journal of Communication Disorders, 36(3), 221–231. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norbury, C. F., Bishop, D. V. M., & Briscoe, J.
(2002) Does impaired grammatical comprehension provides evidence for an innate grammar module? Applied Psycholinguistics, 23, 247–268. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Novogrodsky, R., & Friedmann, N.
(2006) The production of relative clauses in SLI: A window to the nature of the impairment. Advances in Speech-Language Pathology, 8, 364–375. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pickering, M. J., & Ferreira, V. S.
(2008) Structural priming: A critical review. Psychological Bulletin, 134(3), 427–459. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Potter, M. C., & Lombardi, L.
(1998) Syntactic priming in immediate recall of sentences. Journal of Memory and Language, 38, 265–282. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rice, M. L.
(2004) Growth models of developmental language disorders. In M. L. Rice & S. Warren (Eds.), Developmental language disorders (pp. 214–247). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rice, M. L., Oetting, J., Marquis, J., Bode, J., & Pae, S.
(1994) Frequency of input effects on word comprehension of children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 37, 106–122. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rice, M. L., & Wexler, K.
(1996) A phenotype of specific language impairment: Extended optional infinitives. In M. L. Rice (Ed.), Toward a genetics of language (pp. 215–238). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Riches, N.
(2012) Sentence repetition in children with specific language impairment: An investigation of underlying mechanisms. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 47(5) 499–510. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stark, J.
(2011) Verbal perseveration in aphasia: Definitions and clinical phenomena from a historical perspective. Perspectives on Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders, 21(4), 135–151. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thompson, C. K., Shapiro, L., Kiran, S., & Sobecks, J.
(2003) The role of syntactic complexity in treatment of sentence deficits in agrammatic aphasia: The complexity account of treatment efficacy (CATE). Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 46, 591–607. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tomblin, J. B., Mainela-Arnold, E., & Zhang, X.
(2007) Procedural learning in adolescents with and without specific language impairment. Language Learning and Development, 3, 269–293. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tomblin, J. B., Records, N. L., Buckwalter, P., Zhang, X., Smith, E. and O’Brien, M.
(1997) Prevalence of specific language impairment in kindergarten children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 40, 1245–1260. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsimpli, I. M., & Stavrakaki, S.
(1999) The effects of a morphosyntactic deficit in the determiner system: The case of a Greek SLI child. Lingua, 108, 31–85. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ullman, M. T., & Pierpont, E. I.
(2005) Specific language impairment is not specific to language: The procedural deficit hypothesis. Cortex, 41, 399–433. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van der Lely, H. K.
(2005) Domain-specific cognitive systems: Insight from Grammatical-SLI. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(2), 53–59. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vender, M., Garraffa, M., Sorace, A., & Guasti, M. T.
(2016) How early L2 children perform on Italian clinical markers of SLI: A study of clitic production and nonword repetition. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 30(2), 150–169. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Windfuhr, K., Faragher, B., & Conti-Ramsden, G.
(2002) Lexical learning skills in young children with specific language impairment (SLI). International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 37, 415–432. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yan, H., Martin, R. C., & Slevc, L. R.
(2018) Lexical overlap increases syntactic priming in aphasia independently of short-term memory abilities: Evidence against the explicit memory account of the lexical boost. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 48, 76–89. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Lee, Jiyeon, Austin D. Keen, Ellis Farr & Sharon Christ
2023. TelePriming sentence production in aphasia. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 17 DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2023. Structural Priming in the Grammatical Network [Constructional Approaches to Language, 35], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.