Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts, The Hashemite University, Zarqa.
S Afr J Commun Disord. 2020 Nov 5;67(1):e1-e7. doi: 10.4102/sajcd.v67i1.702.
Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) have more difficulties with the structural aspects of language, including morphology (concatenation and non-concatenation) and syntax (word order and grammatical/concord rules), than with other language components (e.g. vocabulary, phonetics and pragmatics).
This study investigates the accuracy of grammatical number inflection produced by Jordanian Arabic-speaking children and young adults with DS. The work also examines the correlation between age and the correct production of singular, dual and plural numbers.
The study involved 60 monolingual Arabic children and young adults with DS, 30 males and 30 females, enrolled at the Nazik Al Hariri Welfare Centre for Special Education, Amman. The participants were divided into three groups: KG2 (7.1-12.5 years old), school (13.10-17.6) and vocational training (18.3-27.3). The participants' data were collected from a picture elicitation task and free speech, and the answers were recorded using a smartphone. Tokens were classified into correctly used, incorrectly used or not recognised. Proficiency percentage in using the correct number in correlation with age was calculated adopting Jia's (2003) composite score of proficiency. The one-way analysis of variance was used to trace the impact of age on the correct performance of number. Post hoc comparisons (guided by the Scheffe test) were calculated for the cumulative results of the scale as a whole to examine the difference in the arithmetic mean between the three groups.
The singular form was the most used by all age groups (83.3%), followed by the plural (27%); the most delayed was dual (10.3%). Intriguingly, the dual form is the most difficult plural pattern because it was the least frequently used pattern in everyday language. Results were in line with other research on morphological markers in individuals with DS (e.g. Penke, 2018). The cumulative results statistically prove the influence of age on the correct use of grammatical number, in favour of the older two groups (total F = 29.865, at the level of significance P = 0.000), with a higher arithmetic mean of all categories (AM: KG2 = 9.00, school = 15.10, VT = 16.25). Hence, sensitivity to the correct number option increases with age although children and young adults with DS do not reach adult-like performance. The non-recognition cases of the proper number category significantly mark language delay in participants with DS.
The study concluded that inflection for grammatical number is evidently delayed in individuals with DS. Linguistic teaching and training of children with DS (involving families, caregivers and educators) should start from childhood and continue to adulthood to improve their use of dual and plural numbers.
唐氏综合征（DS）患者在语言的结构方面（包括形态学（连接和不连接）和句法（词序和语法/一致规则））比其他语言成分（例如词汇、语音和语用学）有更多的困难。
本研究调查了约旦阿拉伯语儿童和青少年 DS 患者语法数屈折的准确性。这项工作还检查了年龄与单数、双数和复数正确产生之间的相关性。
本研究涉及 60 名母语为阿拉伯语的儿童和青少年 DS，其中 30 名男性，30 名女性，均就读于安曼的纳齐克·哈里里特殊教育福利中心。参与者分为三组：KG2（7.1-12.5 岁）、学校（13.10-17.6）和职业培训（18.3-27.3）。参与者的数据来自图片引出任务和自由演讲，答案使用智能手机记录。标记被分为正确使用、错误使用或未识别。采用 Jia（2003）的综合熟练度得分法计算了使用正确数字的熟练程度百分比。采用单向方差分析来追踪年龄对数字正确表现的影响。在整体量表的累积结果上进行了事后比较（由 Scheffe 检验指导），以检查三组之间算术平均值的差异。
单数形式是所有年龄组最常用的（83.3%），其次是复数（27%）；最延迟的是双数（10.3%）。有趣的是，双数形式是最困难的复数形式，因为它是日常语言中使用最少的形式。结果与其他关于 DS 个体形态学标记的研究一致（例如 Penke，2018）。累积结果从统计学上证明了年龄对语法数正确使用的影响，有利于年龄较大的两组（总 F = 29.865，显著性水平 P = 0.000），所有类别的算术平均值更高（AM：KG2 = 9.00，学校 = 15.10，VT = 16.25）。因此，尽管 DS 儿童和青少年没有达到成人水平的表现，但对正确数字选项的敏感性随着年龄的增长而增加。正确数类别的非识别病例显著标志着参与者的语言延迟。
研究表明，DS 患者的语法数屈折明显延迟。对 DS 儿童的语言教学和培训（涉及家庭、照顾者和教育者）应从儿童期开始，并持续到成年期，以提高他们对双数和复数的使用。
