Linguistic and nonlinguistic features of style in normal and language-impaired children

This study explored two questions concerning the language-learning styles described in recent investigations of early child language. The first question was whether features suggestive of language-learning style, for example, extent of pronoun use, jargon-like speech, formulaic speech, and certain play behaviors occurred in clusters consistent with the specific lexical distribution patterns of young normal children delineated by Nelson (1973). The second portion of the study addressed whether language-impaired children could be characterized as reflecting the same language-learning styles attributed to normal children. Eight children, four normally-developing and four language-impaired, were classified as "referential" or "expressive" speakers on the basis of their lexical distribution. For both the normal and language-impaired children, linguistic features suggested in the literature as correlating to one or another language-learning style were found to exist in clusters consistent with the children's pattern of lexical distribution. In addition, analyses of videotaped samples coded for the focus and context of the normal and language-impaired children's play behaviors revealed object-based and social-interaction-based activities that were generally consistent with the children's lexical distribution.