Pronoun comprehension in individuals with down syndrome: deviance or delay?

Results of recent pilot studies suggest that the interpretation of pronouns in individuals with Down syndrome (DS) may follow a pattern unattested in typical development, indicating the presence of a selective deficit targeting the comprehension of reflexive pronouns. These findings come at a time when there is a heated debate surrounding pronoun comprehension in typical development as well. This study aims to contribute to these debates by examining pronoun comprehension in Greek, a language that exhibits unusual patterns in pronoun comprehension in typical development.

Seven Greek-speaking individuals with DS and a control group of 14 typically developing (TD) children were tested. The authors examined the comprehension of strong pronouns, reflexive pronouns, and pronominal clitics, using a picture selection task.

The data reveal evidence of deviant pronoun comprehension in individuals with DS compared with the TD group. The DS group encountered problems in the interpretation of reflexive pronouns when compared with the TD group, while the performance of the two groups was comparable in all remaining conditions.

Findings are in line with the selective deficit model of language comprehension in DS, supporting the presence of a cross-linguistic reflexive deficit.