Comparative analysis of the acquisition of syllabic structure and errors in preschool children with SLI

Abstract

According to the “Implicit grammatical rule deficit hypothesis” (Crago & Gopnik, 1994) adapted by Fee (1995) to phonology, CV syllable structure is universal and complex syllable structures are reduced to CV. Syllabic structures and their simplification processes were analysed in a group of children with SLI (N=5) and compared with those found in two control groups, one matched by age (N=5), and the other by MLU-w (N=5). The children with SLI were slower to acquire syllabic structures than the Age Controls, and maintained simplification processes that were not seen in their age-matched counterparts. Language Level Controls and the children with SLI presented differences in the first acquired structure, the CV. However, syllabic simplifications do not appear to be unique to the SLI; even though simplifications persist for longer in these subjects than in Age Controls, their prevalence is similar to that found in the MLU-w controls. Our results do not support Fee’s hypothesis.