Connective processing by bilingual children and monolinguals with specific language impairment: distinct profiles

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Neurolinguistics

Background:

• Russian-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) and bilinguals exhibit difficulties with near-synonymous connectives 'i' (and) and 'a' (and/but).
• Connective 'i' is preferred for maintaining reference, while 'a' signals a shift in reference.
• Understanding these distinctions is crucial for language acquisition and processing in diverse linguistic populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the processing of Russian connectives 'i' and 'a' in Russian-speaking children with typical language development (TLD), Russian-Dutch bilinguals, and Russian-speaking children with SLI.
• To investigate whether bilingualism influences connective processing in a non-dominant language.
• To differentiate the underlying causes of connective processing difficulties in children with SLI versus bilingual children.

Main Methods:

• An eye-tracking experiment was conducted with Russian-speaking monolinguals (TLD), Russian-Dutch bilinguals, and Russian-speaking monolinguals with SLI (aged 5-6).
• Participants' eye movements were monitored during a task involving the processing of sentences with connectives 'i' and 'a'.
• Analysis focused on differences in processing profiles related to semantic cues of reference maintenance and shift.

Main Results:

• Both monolinguals with typical language development and bilingual children demonstrated similar processing profiles, utilizing connective semantics for discourse prediction.
• Children with specific language impairment (SLI) did not exhibit sensitivity to the semantic differences between 'i' and 'a'.
• Despite comparable production errors, significant differences were observed in the connective processing patterns between bilingual children and children with SLI.

Conclusions:

• Bilingual children process Russian connectives similarly to monolinguals with typical language development, indicating effective semantic integration.
• Children with SLI show a distinct deficit in processing connective semantics, suggesting underlying language impairment rather than just non-dominant language effects.
• The findings highlight the importance of considering specific language impairment when analyzing connective processing in bilingual and monolingual populations.