Nouns and verbs used by preschoolers with language impairment

Verreschi, Marianne Querido; Cáceres-Assenço, Ana Manhani; Befi-Lopes, Debora Maria

doi:10.1590/2317-1782/20162015078

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Sumário

Original Article • CoDAS 28 (4) • Aug 2016 • https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-1782/20162015078 copy

Nouns and verbs used by preschoolers with language impairment

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To compare the functional use of verbs and nouns by Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children with language impairment (LI) and to verify whether their use of these word classes is different from that of children with typical language development (TLD). This study also aimed to compare the use of each verb type between groups.

Methods

Participants were 80 preschool children, 20 of them diagnosed with LI and 60 with TLD. The age ranges of participants were 3 to 6 years for children with LI and 2 to 4 years for children with TLD. Individuals were paired based on their expressive language age. Ludic interaction was used to elicit the speech sample from which nouns and verbs were selected from spontaneous speech. All nouns and verbs were tabulated and verbs were classified.

Results

Preschoolers with LI use verbs more often than nouns in their production of spontaneous speech. The use of nouns presented no difference between the groups, but verb use frequency was higher in children with LI for the 3-year-old subgroup. The verbs most frequently used by children with LI were copula, intransitive, and transitive direct. Comparison between the groups revealed few differences regarding the use of transitive direct, bitransitive, and copular verbs. Only transitive circumstantial verbs were more often used by children with TLD at all ages.

Conclusion

The use of nouns and verbs by children with LI complies with the typical development standard, but it occurs more slowly. The use of verbs with fewer complements is predominant in these children.

Keywords:
Child Language; Language Disorders; Vocabulary; Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; Language Development

Group	Age group	Gender		Total
Group	Age group	Female	Male	Total
LI (n=20)	3 years	0	2	2
	4 years	1	5	6
	5 years	3	5	8
	6 years	1	3	4
TLD (n=60)	2 years	10	10	20
	3 years	10	10	20
	4 years	10	10	20

	Age	Group	Median	Interquartile interval		p
Noun	2 years	LI	76	72	-	0.109
	2 years	TLD	53	34	64	0.109
	3 years	LI	64	38	83	0.203
	3 years	TLD	52	46	62	0.203
	4 years	LI	63	49	80	0.409
	4 years	TLD	62	47	73	0.409
Verb	2 years	LI	95	49	-	1.000
	2 years	TLD	68	60	77	1.000
	3 years	LI	103	94	130	0.003^* * statistical difference p<0.05 – Mann-Whitney test
	3 years	TLD	80	67	88	0.003^* * statistical difference p<0.05 – Mann-Whitney test
	4 years	LI	116	86	137	0.111
	4 years	TLD	100	90	106	0.111

Type of verb	Age	Group	Median	Interquartile interval		Statistics
Intransitive	2 years	LI	37	13	-	U=20.0 z=0.0 p=1.000
	2 years	TLD	25	22	33	U=20.0 z=0.0 p=1.000
	3 years	LI	27	24	39	U=49.0 z=-1.163 p=0.245
	3 years	TLD	27	21	36	U=49.0 z=-1.163 p=0.245
	4 years	LI	41	26	49	U=86.0 z=-0.992 p=0.321
	4 years	TLD	33	29	42	U=86.0 z=-0.992 p=0.321
Transitive direct	2 years	LI	29	18	-	U=2.0 z=-2.062 p=0.039^* * statistical difference p<0.05 – Mann-Whitney test
	2 years	TLD	10	7	14
	3 years	LI	31	25	35	U=19.5 z=-2.798 p=0.005^* * statistical difference p<0.05 – Mann-Whitney test
	3 years	TLD	20	14	24
	4 years	LI	27	22	46	U=101.5 z=-0.352 p=0.725
	4 years	TLD	32	22	36	U=101.5 z=-0.352 p=0.725
Transitive indirect	2 years	LI	3	1	-	U=7.0 z=-1.598 p=0.110
	2 years	TLD	0	0	2	U=7.0 z=-1.598 p=0.110
	3 years	LI	1	0	4	U=67.5 z=-0.142 p=0.887
	3 years	TLD	1	0	3	U=67.5 z=-0.142 p=0.887
	4 years	LI	2	1	8	U=106.0 z=-0.166 p=0.868
	4 years	TLD	4	2	7	U=106.0 z=-0.166 p=0.868
Transitive relative	2 years	LI	0	0	0	U=16.0 z=-0.680 p=0.497
	2 years	TLD	0	0	0	U=16.0 z=-0.680 p=0.497
	3 years	LI	0	0	1	U=67.5 z=-0.154 p=0.877
	3 years	TLD	0	0	1	U=67.5 z=-0.154 p=0.877
	4 years	LI	0	0	1	U=77.5 z=-1.428 p=0.153
	4 years	TLD	1	0	2	U=77.5 z=-1.428 p=0.153
Transitive circumstantial	2 years	LI	2	1	-	U=0.5 z=-2.230 p=0.026^* * statistical difference p<0.05 – Mann-Whitney test
	2 years	TLD	10	6	17
	3 years	LI	3	1	3	U=22.5 z=-2.653 p=0.008^* * statistical difference p<0.05 – Mann-Whitney test
	3 years	TLD	7	4	8
	4 years	LI	3	0	5	U=62.5 z=-1.974 p=0.048^* * statistical difference p<0.05 – Mann-Whitney test
	4 years	TLD	5	3	8
Bitransitive	2 years	LI	3	2	.	U=5.5 z=-1.822 p=0.068
	2 years	TLD	0	0	2	U=5.5 z=-1.822 p=0.068
	3 years	LI	2	1	6	U=14.0 z=-3.312 p=0.001^* * statistical difference p<0.05 – Mann-Whitney test
	3 years	TLD	0	0	1
	4 years	LI	3	2	8	U=15.0 z=-4.378 p<0.001^* * statistical difference p<0.05 – Mann-Whitney test
	4 years	TLD	0	0	0
Transobjective	2 years	LI	0	0	0	U=19.0 z=-0.316 p=0.752
	2 years	TLD	0	0	0	U=19.0 z=-0.316 p=0.752
	3 years	LI	0	0	1	U=62.5 z=-0.613 p=0.540
	3 years	TLD	0	0	0	U=62.5 z=-0.613 p=0.540
	4 years	LI	0	0	0	U=96.5 z=-0.871 p=0.384
	4 years	TLD	0	0	0	U=96.5 z=-0.871 p=0.384
Copula	2 years	LI	22	13	-	U=16.5 z=-0.401 p=0.689
	2 years	TLD	16	12	20	U=16.5 z=-0.401 p=0.689
	3 years	LI	29	23	48	U=38.0 z=-1.774 p=0.076
	3 years	TLD	23	16	27	U=38.0 z=-1.774 p=0.076
	4 years	LI	32	23	42	U=28.5 z=-3.370 p=0.001^* * statistical difference p<0.05 – Mann-Whitney test
	4 years	TLD	18	15	22

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[1] Conflict of interests: nothing to declare.