Grammaticality of Tag Questions as a Longitudinal Morphosyntactic Marker of Children With Specific Language Impairment Compared to Peers Ages 5-18 Years.
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| Title: | Grammaticality of Tag Questions as a Longitudinal Morphosyntactic Marker of Children With Specific Language Impairment Compared to Peers Ages 5-18 Years. |
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| Authors: | Rice, Mabel L.1 mabel@ku.edu, Earnest, Kathleen Kelsey2, Hoffman, Lesa3 |
| Source: | Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research. Jul2025, Vol. 68 Issue 7, p3204-3225. 22p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Comparative grammar, *Phonological awareness, *Speech evaluation, *Intelligence tests, *Language acquisition, *Educational attainment, Language disorders in children, Task performance, Research funding, Questionnaires, Descriptive statistics, Age distribution, Linguistics, Data analysis software, Confidence intervals |
| Abstract: | Purpose: Previous studies documenting longitudinal linguistic outcomes of children with specific language impairment (SLI) compared to their age peers focus on the property of obligatory finiteness marking in sentences across the age span of 5-18 years. This study evaluates tag questions as syntactically complex sentences that extend the demands of finiteness marking across clauses, requiring coordination of negation in the base sentence and tag question. Method: Five hundred eleven children (240 unaffected, 271 SLI affected), between 5 and 18 years of age participated, following a rolling recruitment longitudinal design, which included a total of 4,718 observations. The linguistic task was designed to evaluate four variations of tag questions, two of which targeted polarity requirements for tags and two of which were nonpolarity differences in the tag. Growth modeling methods were used to test hypotheses of group differences (SLI vs. unaffected) in understanding of tag questions over 5-18 years. Covariates were child nonverbal IQ, mother's education, and child sex. Results: Children with SLI's outcomes varied by age and item type. They performed below unaffected children across all tag outcomes at 10 years, scored correctly on nonpolarity items at 18 years (ceiling levels), and continued to lag unaffected children at 18 years on polarity items. Significant SLI effects on the outcomes were not moderated by the covariates. Conclusions: By 18 years, the SLI group performed the nonpolarity items correctly but continued to struggle with polarity items. Thus, polarity is of interest as a possible screener for SLI throughout the school years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research is the property of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 186522584 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Grammaticality of Tag Questions as a Longitudinal Morphosyntactic Marker of Children With Specific Language Impairment Compared to Peers Ages 5-18 Years. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Rice%2C+Mabel+L%2E%22">Rice, Mabel L.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> mabel@ku.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Earnest%2C+Kathleen+Kelsey%22">Earnest, Kathleen Kelsey</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Hoffman%2C+Lesa%22">Hoffman, Lesa</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Speech%2C+Language+%26+Hearing+Research%22">Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research</searchLink>. Jul2025, Vol. 68 Issue 7, p3204-3225. 22p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Comparative+grammar%22">Comparative grammar</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Phonological+awareness%22">Phonological awareness</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Speech+evaluation%22">Speech evaluation</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Intelligence+tests%22">Intelligence tests</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+acquisition%22">Language acquisition</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+attainment%22">Educational attainment</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+disorders+in+children%22">Language disorders in children</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Task+performance%22">Task performance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Research+funding%22">Research funding</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Questionnaires%22">Questionnaires</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Descriptive+statistics%22">Descriptive statistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Age+distribution%22">Age distribution</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Linguistics%22">Linguistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Data+analysis+software%22">Data analysis software</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Confidence+intervals%22">Confidence intervals</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Purpose: Previous studies documenting longitudinal linguistic outcomes of children with specific language impairment (SLI) compared to their age peers focus on the property of obligatory finiteness marking in sentences across the age span of 5-18 years. This study evaluates tag questions as syntactically complex sentences that extend the demands of finiteness marking across clauses, requiring coordination of negation in the base sentence and tag question. Method: Five hundred eleven children (240 unaffected, 271 SLI affected), between 5 and 18 years of age participated, following a rolling recruitment longitudinal design, which included a total of 4,718 observations. The linguistic task was designed to evaluate four variations of tag questions, two of which targeted polarity requirements for tags and two of which were nonpolarity differences in the tag. Growth modeling methods were used to test hypotheses of group differences (SLI vs. unaffected) in understanding of tag questions over 5-18 years. Covariates were child nonverbal IQ, mother's education, and child sex. Results: Children with SLI's outcomes varied by age and item type. They performed below unaffected children across all tag outcomes at 10 years, scored correctly on nonpolarity items at 18 years (ceiling levels), and continued to lag unaffected children at 18 years on polarity items. Significant SLI effects on the outcomes were not moderated by the covariates. Conclusions: By 18 years, the SLI group performed the nonpolarity items correctly but continued to struggle with polarity items. Thus, polarity is of interest as a possible screener for SLI throughout the school years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research is the property of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00587 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 22 StartPage: 3204 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Comparative grammar Type: general – SubjectFull: Phonological awareness Type: general – SubjectFull: Speech evaluation Type: general – SubjectFull: Intelligence tests Type: general – SubjectFull: Language acquisition Type: general – SubjectFull: Educational attainment Type: general – SubjectFull: Language disorders in children Type: general – SubjectFull: Task performance Type: general – SubjectFull: Research funding Type: general – SubjectFull: Questionnaires Type: general – SubjectFull: Descriptive statistics Type: general – SubjectFull: Age distribution Type: general – SubjectFull: Linguistics Type: general – SubjectFull: Data analysis software Type: general – SubjectFull: Confidence intervals Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Grammaticality of Tag Questions as a Longitudinal Morphosyntactic Marker of Children With Specific Language Impairment Compared to Peers Ages 5-18 Years. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Rice, Mabel L. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Earnest, Kathleen Kelsey – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Hoffman, Lesa IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 07 Text: Jul2025 Type: published Y: 2025 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 10924388 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 68 – Type: issue Value: 7 Titles: – TitleFull: Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research Type: main |
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