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Syntactic development in Japanese hearing-impaired children
Akie Fujiyoshi1, Kunihiro Fukushima, Tomoko Taguchi
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Okayama University Postgraduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Science, Okayama, Japan.
Summary
Hearing-impaired children often acquire complex Japanese grammar later than their normal-hearing peers. Early language development screening is crucial for effective intervention in these children.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Developmental Psychology
- Audiology
Background:
- Syntactic development is crucial for language comprehension.
- Hearing impairment can significantly impact language acquisition.
- Understanding developmental trajectories in Japanese grammar is essential for intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine syntactic development in Japanese-speaking children with and without hearing impairment.
- To identify age-related acquisition patterns of various syntactic structures.
- To compare the acquisition timelines between normal-hearing and hearing-impaired children.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional observational study of 592 children (421 normal-hearing, 171 hearing-impaired).
- Utilized the Syntactic Processing Test for Aphasia for Japanese language users.
- Employed linear regression analysis to estimate age of syntactic structure acquisition.
Main Results:
- Both groups acquired basic word order (agent-object-verb) and goal benefactive constructions early.
- Later acquisition (school age) observed for object-agent-verb, source benefactive, passive voice, and relative clauses.
- Many hearing-impaired children may not acquire complex Japanese grammatical structures until age 12.
Conclusions:
- Significant delays in syntactic development are evident in hearing-impaired children.
- Early and adequate screening for language development is necessary for school-age hearing-impaired children.
- Targeted interventions are required to support the acquisition of complex grammatical structures.
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