Verbs in the emergence of word combinations in young children with specific expressive language impairment

Young children with specific expressive language impairment (SELI) are typically first identified by their delay in initial vocabulary learning. When their language difficulties persist they often have problems with verb constructions. The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of lexical development in children with SELI who were moving from the single-word to the multi-word stage of language production, with particular attention to verbs. The research examined the nature of the developing lexicon (lexicon size and composition) and realisation of lexical categories and their combinatorial properties transitivity of verbs) as the children began producing word combinations during a nine-week period of observation, three weeks of which involved treatment. Results indicated a moderate correlation between the developing lexicon, both in size and composition of vocabulary, and the emergence of word combinations as measured by mean length of utterance. Further, the data revealed the importance of intransitive and ditransitive verbs for children who demonstrated the greatest change in their language production. The findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and clinical importance.