Chapter published in:
Atypical Language Development in Romance Languages
Edited by Eva Aguilar-Mediavilla, Lucía Buil-Legaz, Raúl López-Penadés, Victor A. Sanchez-Azanza and Daniel Adrover-Roig
[Not in series 223] 2019
► pp. 1–20

Introduction to atypical language development in romance languages

| University of Balearic Islands
| University of Balearic Islands
| University of Balearic Islands
| University of Balearic Islands
| University of Balearic Islands
This chapter presents a state of the art in atypical language development in Romance languages and introduces, as well, the chapters in this book. The first part describes the aim of the book. The second part describes typical language acquisition in Romance language and their main differences with English. Finally, the third section focuses on four clinical conditions that show atypical language development: prematurity, Specific Language Impairment, hearing loss, and genetic syndromes.
Keywords: atypical language development, Romance languages, prematurity, Specific Language Impairment, hearing loss, genetic syndromes
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Typical language acquisition in Romance languages
  • Atypical language development
    • Preterm children
    • Specific Language Impairment
    • Deaf children
    • Genetic syndromes
  • Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 11 June 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/z.223.01agu
References
Aarnoudse-Moens, C. S. H., Weisglas-Kuperus, N., van Goudoever, J. B., & Oosterlaan, J.
2009 Meta-analysis of neurobehavioral outcomes in very preterm and/or very low birth weight children. Pediatrics 124(2), 717–728. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ackerman, B. P., Brown, E. D., & Izard, C. E.
2004 The relations between contextual risk, earned income, and the school adjustment of children from economically disadvantaged families. Developmental Psychology 40(2), 204–216. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Aguilar-Mediavilla, E., Adrover-Roig, D., Buil-Legaz, L., & López-Penadés, R.
2016 Proceedings of the VIII International Conference of Language Acquisiction, Palma, UIB. Palma: UIB.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (APA)
2013 DSM-5. < http://​www​.psychiatry​.org​/dsm5 (8 October, 2018).
Andreu, L., Sanz-Torrent, M., & Trueswell, J. C.
2012 Anticipatory sentence processing in children with specific language impairment: Evidence from eye movements during listening. Applied Psycholinguistics 34(1), 5–44. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Arias-Trejo, N., & Barrón-Martínez, J. B.
2017 Language skills in Down Syndrome. En A. Auza Benavides & R. G. Schwartz (Ed.), Language development and disorders in Spanish-speaking children (pp. 329–341). New York, NY: Springer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Asad, A. N., Purdy, S. C., Ballard, E., Fairgray, L., & Bowen, C.
2018 Phonological processes in the speech of school-age children with hearing loss: Comparisons with children with normal hearing. Journal of Communication Disorders. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bates, E., Dale, P. S., & Thal, D. J.
1995 Individual differences and their implications for theories of language development. En P. Fletcher & B. MacWhinney (Ed.), The handbook of child language (pp. 96–151). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bates, E., Devescovi, A., & Wulfeck, B.
2001 Psycholinguistics: A cross-language perspective. Annual Review of Psychology 52, 369–398. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bavin, E. L.
1995 Language acquisition in crosslinguistic perspective. Annual Review of Anthropology 24(1): 373–396. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Berman, R. A.
2014 Cross-linguistic comparisons in child language research. Journal of Child Language 41(S1), 26–37. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Berman, R. A., & Slobin, D. I.
1987 Five ways of learning to talk about events: A crosslinguistic study of children’s narratives (Cognitive Science Report, Vol. 46). Berkeley, CA: Institute of Cognitive Studies.Google Scholar
1994 Relating events in narrative: A cross-linguistic developmental study. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Bishop, D. V. M.
2004 Specific language impairments: Diagnotic dilemmas. En Classification of developmental language disorders: Theoretical issues and clinical implications (pp. 309–326). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
2014 Ten questions about terminology for children with unexplained language problems. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 49(4), 381–415. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Boons, T., De Raeve, L., Langereis, M., Peeraer, L., Wouters, J., & van Wieringen, A.
2013 Expressive vocabulary, morphology, syntax and narrative skills in profoundly deaf children after early cochlear implantation. Research in Developmental Disabilities 34(6), 2008–2022. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bosch, L.
2011 Precursors to language in preterm infants. En Progress in brain research (Vol. 189, pp. 239–257). Burlington, VT: Academic Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. H., & Corwyn, R. F.
2005 Productive activity and the prevention of behavior problems. Developmental Psychology 41(1), 89–98. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Brock, J.
2007 Language abilities in Williams syndrome: A critical review. Development and Psychopathology 19(01), 97–127. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Clark, C. A. C., & Woodward, L. J.
2015 Relation of perinatal risk and early parenting to executive control at the transition to school. Developmental Science 18(4), 525–542. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Conger, R. D., & Conger, K. J.
2002 Resilience in midwestern families: Selected findings from the first decade of a prospective, longitudinal study. Journal of Marriage and Family 64(2), 361–373. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Davis, J. M., Elfenbein, J. L., Schum, R., & Bentler, R. A.
1986 Effects of mild and moderate hearing impairments on language, educational, and psychosocial behavior of children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 51(1), 53. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dearing, E., McCartney, K., & Taylor, B. A.
2002 Change in family income-to-needs matters more for children with less. Child Development 72(6), 1779–1793. < http://​www​.ncbi​.nlm​.nih​.gov​/pubmed​/11768145> CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Delgado Domínguez, J., & Grupo PrevInfad/PAPPS Infancia y Adolescencia
2011 Detección precoz de la hipoacusia infantil. Revista Pediatría de Atención Primaria 13(50), 279–297.Google Scholar
Devescovi, A., Caselli, M. C., Marchione, D., Pasqualetti, P., Reilly, J., & Bates, E
2003 A cross-linguistic study of the relaitonship between grammar and lexical development. Manuscript, Center for Reseach in Language, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Diez-itza, E.
2007 Estudios de desarrollo del lenguaje y educación. Oviedo: Universidad de Oviedo ICE.Google Scholar
Díez-Itza, E., Martínez, V., Fernández-Urquiza, M., & Antón, A.
2017 Morphological profile of Williams syndrome: Typical or atypical? In A. Auza-Benavides & R. G. Schwartz (Ed.), Language development and disorders in Spanish- speaking children (pp. 311–327). New York, NY: Springer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Díez-Itza, E., Martínez, V., Pérez, V., & Fernández-Urquiza, M.
2018 Explicit oral narrative intervention for students with Williams syndrome. Frontiers in Psychology 8(JAN), 1–18. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Donnai, D., & Karmiloff-Smith, A.
2000 Williams syndrome: From gentotype through to the cognitive phenotype. American Journal of Medical Genetics 97(2), 164–171. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Duinmeijer, I., de Jong, J., & Scheper, A.
2012 Narrative abilities, memory and attention in children with a specific language impairment. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 47(5), 542–555. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Elfenbein, J. L., Hardin-Jones, M. A., & Davis, J. M.
1994 Oral communication skills of children who are hard of hearing. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research 37(1), 216. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fey, M. E., Catts, H. W., Proctor-Williams, K., Tomblin, J. B., & Zhang, X.
2004 Oral and written story composition skills of children with language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR 47(6), 1301–1318. < http://​www​.ncbi​.nlm​.nih​.gov​/pubmed​/15842012> CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fiestas, C. E., Bedore, L. M., Peña, E. D., & Nagy, V. J.
2005 Use of mazes in the narrative language samples of bilingual and monolingual 4- to 7-year old children. In J. Cohen, K. T. McAlister, K. Rolstad, & J. MacSwan (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism (pp. 730–740). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, E. M., Olds, J., Gaboury, I., McCrae, R., Schramm, D., & Durieux-Smith, A.
2012 Comparison of outcomes in children with hearing aids and cochlear implants. Cochlear Implants International 13(1), 5–15. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Galeote, M., Soto, P., Sebastián, E., Checa, E., & Sánchez-Palacios, C.
2014 Early grammatical development in Spanish children with Down syndrome. Journal of Child Language 41(01), 111–131. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gonzalez, D. O., Cáceres, A. M., Bento-Gaz, A. C. P., & Befi-Lopes, D. M.
2012 The complexity of narrative interferes in the use of conjunctions in children with specific language impairment. Jornal da Sociedade Brasileira de Fonoaudiologia 24(2), 152–156. < http://​www​.ncbi​.nlm​.nih​.gov​/pubmed​/22832683> CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Guo, J., Lieven, E. V. M., Budwig, N., Ervin-Tripp, S., Nakamura, K., & Ozcaliskan, S.
2009 Crosslinguistic approaches to the psychology of language: Research in the tradition of Dan Isaac Slobin. New York, NY: Psychology Press. < https://​books​.google​.cz​/books​?id​=W​-B4AgAAQBAJ​&pg​=PA119​-IA2​&lpg​=PA119​-IA2​&dq​=slovin+frog+crosslinguistic​&source​=bl​&ots​=7T9afSFY8B​&sig​=i27​-LgApsO8CLAIRUm8iQe5fgJ8​&hl​=es​&sa​=X​&ved​=2ahUKEwjz7cPh2​-XdAhVDnRoKHfVYAkEQ6AEwA3oECAYQAQ#v​=onepage​&q​=slovinfrogcroGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, M., Tiddens, E., & Quittner, A. L.
2018 Comparisons of visual attention in school-age children with cochlear implants versus hearing peers and normative data. Hearing Research 359, 91–100. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Holm, A., Crosbie, S., & Dodd, B.
2007 Differentiating normal variability from inconsistency in children’s speech: Normative data. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 42(4), 467–486. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ionio, C., Riboni, E., Confalonieri, E., Dallatomasina, C., Mascheroni, E., Bonanomi, A., … Comi, G.
2016 Paths of cognitive and language development in healthy preterm infants. Infant Behavior and Development 44, 199–207. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jackson-Maldonado, D., & Maldonado, R.
2017 Grammaticality differences between Spanish-speaking children with specific language impairment and their typically developing peers. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 52(6), 750–765. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jansson-Verkasalo, E., Ruusuvirta, T., Huotilainen, M., Alku, P., Kushnerenko, E., Suominen, K., … Hallman, M.
2010 Atypical perceptual narrowing in prematurely born infants is associated with compromised language acquisition at 2 years of age. BMC Neuroscience 11(1), 88. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jones, W., Bellugi, U., Lai, Z., Chiles, M., Reilly, J., Lincoln, A., & Adolphs, R.
2000 II. Hypersociability in Williams Syndrome. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 12(supplement 1), 30–46. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kapa, L. L., Plante, E., & Doubleday, K.
2017 Applying an integrative framework of executive function to preschoolers with Specific Language Impairment. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research 60(8), 2170. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Karmiloff-Smith, A
1992 Beyond modularity: A developmental perspective on cognitive science. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press; Bradford Books.Google Scholar
Kiese-Himmel, C.
2008 Receptive (aural) vocabulary development in children with permanent bilateral sensorineural hearing impairment. The Journal of Laryngology & Otology 122(5). CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kochhar, A., Hildebrand, M. S., & Smith, R. J. H.
2007 Clinical aspects of hereditary hearing loss. Genetics in Medicine 9(7), 393–408. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Koldewijn, K., van Wassenaer, A., Wolf, M.-J., Meijssen, D., Houtzager, B., Beelen, A., … Nollet, F.
2010 A Neurobehavioral intervention and assessment program in very low birth weight infants: Outcome at 24 months. The Journal of Pediatrics 156(3), 359–365. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Leonard, L. B.
2014a Children with Specific Language Impairment and their contribution to the study of language development. Journal of Child Language 41(S1), 38–47. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2014b Specific Language Impairment across languages. Child Development Perspectives 8(1), 1–5. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2015 Specific Language Impairment (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Lieven, E. V. M.
1994 Crosslinguistic and crosscultural aspects of language addressed to children. En C. Gallaway & B. J. Richards (Ed.), Input and interaction in language acquisition (pp. 56–73). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2010 Language development in a cross-linguistic context. In M. Kail & M. Hickmann (Eds.), Language acquisition across linguistic and cognitive systems (pp. 91–108). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Liu, L., Oza, S., Hogan, D., Chu, Y., Perin, J., Zhu, J., … Black, R. E.
2016 Global, regional, and national causes of under-5 mortality in 2000–15: An updated systematic analysis with implications for the Sustainable Development Goals. The Lancet 388(10063), 3027–3035. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
López-Ornat, S.
1998 La adquisición del lenguaje. Nuevas perspectivas. En F. Cuetos-Vega & M. de Vega (Ed.), Avances en la psicolingüística del español. Madrid: Siglo XXI.Google Scholar
May-Mederake, B.
2012 Early intervention and assessment of speech and language development in young children with cochlear implants. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 76(7), 939–946. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Mayor-Cinca, M. A., Zubiauz de de Pedro, B., & Díez, E.
2005 Estudios sobre la adquisición del lenguaje. Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca.Google Scholar
Mueller Gathercole, V. C., Sebastián, E., & Soto, P.
1999 The early acquisition of Spanish verbal morphology: Across-the-board or piecemeal knowledge? International Journal of Bilingualism 3(2–3), 133–182. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Næss, K. A. B., Lyster, S. A. H., Hulme, C., & Melby-Lervåg, M.
2011 Language and verbal short-term memory skills in children with Down syndrome: A meta-analytic review. Research in Developmental Disabilities 32(6), 2225–2234. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Netten, A. P., Rieffe, C., Theunissen, S. C. P. M., Soede, W., Dirks, E., Korver, A. M. H., … Frijns, J. H. M.
2015 Early identification: Language skills and social functioning in deaf and hard of hearing preschool children. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 79(12), 2221–2226. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Niparko, J. K., Tobey, E. A., Thal, D. J., Eisenberg, L. S., Wang, N.-Y., Quittner, A. L., & Fink, N. E.
2010 Spoken language development in children following Cochlear implantation. JAMA 303(15), 1498–1506. < http://​www​.jama​.com> CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Orphanet
2018 Prevalence and incidence of rare diseases: Bibliographic data (Orphanet Report Series 2). < www​.orpha​.net>Google Scholar
Parisse, C. & Maillart, C.
(2009) Specific language impairment as systemic developmental disorders. Journal of Neurolinguistics 22(2), 109-122.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Pereira, M.
1996 Estudios sobre la adquisición del castellano, catalán, esquera y gallego. Actas del I Encuentro Internacional sobre Adquisición de las lenguas del Estado. Santiago de Compostela: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.Google Scholar
Petersen, N. K., Jørgensen, A. W., & Ovesen, T.
2015 Prevalence of various etiologies of hearing loss among cochlear implant recipients: Systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Audiology 54(12), 924–932. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, D. B. & Gardner, C. M.
(2011) Trastornos específicos del lenguaje: una revisión. Revista Chilena de Fonoaudiología 10, 19-32.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Raviv, T., Kessenich, M., & Morrison, F. J.
2004 A mediational model of the association between socioeconomic status and three-year-old language abilities: The role of parenting factors. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 19(4), 528–547. < Crossref> CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Reilly, J., Losh, M., Bellugi, U., & Wulfeck, B.
2004 'Frog, where are you?' Narratives in children with specific language impairment, early focal brain injury, and Williams syndrome. Brain and Language 88(2), 229–247. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Repetti, R. L., Taylor, S. E., & Seeman, T. E.
2002 Risky families: Family social environments and the mental and physical health of offspring. Psychological Bulletin 128(2), 330–366. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ruben, R. J.
2018 Language development in the pediatric cochlear implant patient. Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology 3(3), 209–213. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sansavini, A., Guarini, A., & Caselli, M. C.
2011 Preterm birth: Neuropsychological profiles and atypical developmental pathways. Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews 17(2), 102–113. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schalock, R. L., & Luckasson, R.
2004 American Association on Mental Retardation’s Definition, Classification, and System of Supports and its relation to international trends and issues in the field of intellectual disabilities. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities 1(3), 136–146. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, R. G.
2009 Handbook on child language disorders. New York NY: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Scott, M. N., Taylor, H. G., Fristad, M. A., Klein, N., Espy, K. A., Minich, N., & Hack, M.
2012 Behavior disorders in extremely preterm/extremely low birth weight children in kindergarten. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics 33(3), 202–213. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Serenius, F., Ewald, U., Farooqi, A., Fellman, V., Hafström, M., Hellgren, K.
… 2016 Extremely preterm infants in Sweden study group. Neurodevelopmental outcomes among extremely preterm infants 6.5 years after active perinatal care in Sweden. JAMA Pediatrics 170(10), 954. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Serra-Raventós, M., Serrat Sellabona, E., Solé Planas, R., Bel Leal, A., & Aparici Aznar, M.
2000 La adquisición del lenguaje. Barcelona: Ariel.Google Scholar
Sorkin, D. L., Gates-Ulanet, P., & Mellon, N. K.
2015 Psychosocial aspects of hearing loss in Children. Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America 48(6), 1073–1080. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Spittle, A., Orton, J., Anderson, P. J., Boyd, R., & Doyle, L. W.
2015 Early developmental intervention programmes provided post hospital discharge to prevent motor and cognitive impairment in preterm infants. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 776(11), CD005495. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Stevenson, J., McCann, D., Watkin, P., Worsfold, S., & Kennedy, C.
2010 The relationship between language development and behaviour problems in children with hearing loss. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 51(1), 77–83. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Shannon, J. D., Cabrera, N. J., & Lamb, M. E.
2004 Fathers and mothers at play with their 2- and 3-year-olds: contributions to language and cognitive development. Child Development 75(6), 1806–1820. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, H. G., & Clark, C. A. C.
2016 Executive function in children born preterm: Risk factors and implications for outcome. Seminars in Perinatology 40(8), 520–529. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Thorne, J. C., Coggins, T. E., Carmichael Olson, H., & Astley, S. J.
2007 Exploring the utility of narrative analysis in diagnostic decision making: Picture-bound reference, elaboration, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research 50(2), 459. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M.
2003 Constructing a language : A usage-based theory of language acquisition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. < http://​www​.hup​.harvard​.edu​/catalog​.php​?isbn​=9780674017641>Google Scholar
Tomblin, J. B., Oleson, J. J., Ambrose, S. E., Walker, E., & Moeller, M. P.
2014 The influence of hearing aids on the speech and language development of children with hearing loss. JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery 140(5), 403. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Toth, K., de Lacy, N., & King, B. H.
2016 Intelectual disability. In M. K. Dulcan (Ed.), Dulcan’s textbook of child and adolescent psychiatry (pp. 105–133). Arlington VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
van Noort-van der Spek, I. L., Franken, M.-C. J. P., & Weisglas-Kuperus, N.
2012 Language functions in preterm-born children: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pediatrics 129(4), 745–754. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Webb, A. R., Heller, H. T., Benson, C. B., & Lahav, A.
2015 Mother’s voice and heartbeat sounds elicit auditory plasticity in the human brain before full gestation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112(10), 3152–3157. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, K. E., & Jakobson, L. S.
2014 Social perception in children born at very low birthweight and its relationship with social/behavioral outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 55(9), 990–998. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
World Health Organisation
2018 Addressing the rising prevalence of hearing loss. < http://​www​.who​.int​/iris​/handle​/10665​/260336>Google Scholar