Friedmann Naama, Novogrodsky Rama
Tel Aviv University, School of Education, Language and Brain Lab, Ramat Aviv, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel.
Brain Lang. 2007 Apr;101(1):50-63. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2006.09.006. Epub 2006 Nov 3.
Children with Syntactic Specific Language Impairment (S-SLI) have difficulties understanding object relative clauses, which have been ascribed to a deficit in syntactic movement. The current study explores the nature of the deficit in movement, and specifically whether it is related to a deficit in the construction of syntactic structure and traces, or whether the structure is constructed correctly but the transfer of thematic roles from the trace is impaired. This question was addressed using reading aloud and paraphrasing of object relatives that included noun-verb heterophonic homographs after the trace. Because the correct reading of homographs as noun or verb critically hinges on the identification of their syntactic position, readers who cannot construct traces are expected to read homographs incorporated after the trace incorrectly. The participants were 15 Hebrew-speaking children aged 9.3 to 14.6 with S-SLI and 50 typically developing children. The children with S-SLI read the homographs after the trace correctly but failed to interpret the object relatives, making thematic role errors. The results suggest that in S-SLI, at least for school-aged children, syntactic structure and traces are created, but the assignment of thematic roles from the trace to the moved element is impaired, leading to a deficit in the comprehension of movement-derived sentences.
患有句法特定语言障碍（S-SLI）的儿童在理解宾语关系从句方面存在困难，这被归因于句法移动缺陷。本研究探讨了移动缺陷的本质，特别是它是否与句法结构和语迹的构建缺陷有关，或者结构是否正确构建但主题角色从语迹的转移受损。这个问题通过大声朗读和释义包含语迹后名词 - 动词异音同形词的宾语关系从句来解决。因为同形词作为名词或动词的正确读法关键取决于其句法位置的识别，所以无法构建语迹的读者预计会错误地读出语迹后包含的同形词。参与者是15名年龄在9.3至14.6岁之间的希伯来语儿童，患有S-SLI，以及50名发育正常的儿童。患有S-SLI的儿童正确读出了语迹后的同形词，但未能解释宾语关系从句，出现了主题角色错误。结果表明，在S-SLI中，至少对于学龄儿童来说，句法结构和语迹是创建的，但主题角色从语迹到移动元素的分配受损，导致对移动派生句子的理解出现缺陷。
