Morphology and syntax in late talkers at age 5

Area of Science:

• Child language development
• Developmental linguistics
• Speech-language pathology

Background:

• Late talkers (LT) are children with delayed expressive language at 24-30 months.
• Longitudinal studies are crucial for understanding the developmental trajectories of LT.
• Identifying factors influencing persistent language difficulties is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the morphology and syntax skills at age 5 in children initially identified as late talkers at age 2.
• To compare the language outcomes of late talkers with typically developing peers.
• To examine differences between late talkers with continuing delay and late bloomers.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study tracking 34 late talkers and 20 typically developing children.
• Assessment of 14 grammatical morphemes at age 5.
• Evaluation of syntactic complexity using the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn).

Main Results:

• Late talkers exhibited significant morphological delays at ages 3 and 4.
• At age 5, the only significant group difference in morphology was the third person regular -s inflection.
• Late talkers with continuing delay scored significantly lower on syntactic complexity (IPSyn) than late bloomers and typically developing peers.

Conclusions:

• Late talkers demonstrate ongoing language weaknesses that manifest differently across developmental stages.
• Findings support the hypothesis of an underlying language endowment deficit in late talkers.
• These persistent differences extend into higher-order language skills, impacting development through adolescence.