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Inflectional morphology in German Williams syndrome
1Institut fuer Sprache und Information, Universitaet Duesseldorf, Germany. penke@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de
Brain and Cognition
|May 28, 2002
Summary
Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) show intact regular grammar but struggle with irregular forms in German, similar to English findings. This dissociation impacts noun plurals and verb participles in WS language development.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Previous research indicated a dissociation in English past tense morphology in Williams syndrome (WS).
- The current study examines if this dissociation extends to German, a language with different morphological characteristics.
- Williams syndrome is a genetic disorder affecting cognitive and linguistic development.
Observation:
- The study investigated regular and irregular noun plurals and participles in German.
- Two German subjects with WS and ten age- and mental-age-matched controls participated.
- Data collection focused on morphological accuracy in different grammatical contexts.
Findings:
- WS subjects demonstrated intact regular noun plural formation.
- Irregular noun plurals were significantly impaired in WS subjects.
- A similar pattern emerged for participles, with regular inflection unimpaired but irregular verbs incorrectly regularized by WS participants.
Implications:
- The findings support a dissociation in morphological processing in Williams syndrome, extending beyond English.
- This research contributes to the ongoing debate between connectionist and dualistic models of language faculty.
- Understanding these specific linguistic deficits in WS can inform targeted interventions and educational strategies.
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