CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 233Language Development and DisordersReading and Literacy DevelopmentNeurobiology of Language and Bilingualism

Morphological Productivity in Children With Normal Language and SLI: A Study of the English Past Tense

Marchman, Virginia A., Wulfeck, Beverly, Weismer, Susan Ellis·1999·Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
DOI 10.1044/jslhr.4201.206
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) are known to display persistent difficulties with inflectional morphology—in particular, the overuse of unmarked grammatical forms (i.e., zero-marking). Yet, several recent studies have shown that English-speaking children with SLI, like their normal language peers (NL), demonstrate a considerable degree of productive language abilities (e.g., Bishop, 1994; Loeb & Leonard, 1991; Oetting & Horohov, 1997). In this study, we explore productivity in the English past tense in school-age children with SLI (N=31) and NL (N=31) who were equivalent as a group in chronological and mental age. Although children in both groups produced a range of error types, the children with SLI produced significantly more errors, with a greater proportion resulting from zero-marking (e.g.,go) than suffixation (e.g.,goed). Item analyses indicated that suffixations and zero-markings were predicted by item frequency, phonological features of stems, and similarity relationships across items (i.e., neighborhood structure) in both groups, yet children with SLI were more sensitive to item phonology than their NL peers. Results are interpreted in light of the predictions of dual- versus single-mechanism models of morphological productivity. Implications for accounts of SLI are discussed.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1044/jslhr.4201.206

Cites

0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • High-frequency irregulars blew and feet are less likely to be over-regularized than low-frequency irregulars drank and shelves.

    “For example, the high-frequency irregulars blew and feet are less likely to be over-regularized (e.g. *blowed, *foots) than the low-frequency irregulars drank and shelves (e.g. *drinked and *shelfs)”

    From The ubiquity of frequency effects in first language acquisition (2015) · cites this paper as Marchman, Wulfeck & Weismer, 1999

  • The more frequent the irregular form in absolute terms, the more likely children are to produce this form as opposed to an error.

    “With regard to absolute frequency, this domain illustrates the common finding that the more frequent the irregular form (in absolute terms), the more likely children are to produce this form, as opposed to an error”

    From The ubiquity of frequency effects in first language acquisition (2015) · cites this paper as Marchman, Wulfeck & Weismer, 1999

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Marchman, V. A., Wulfeck, B., & Weismer, S. E.
Affiliations
  • The University of Texas at Dallas (US)
  • San Diego State University (US)
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
Publisher
American Speech Language Hearing Association
Published
1999-02
Volume
42
Issue
1
Pages
206-219
ISSN
  • 1092-4388 (ISSN-L)
  • 1558-9102
DOI
10.1044/jslhr.4201.206
OpenAlex
W2063303530
Cited by
233
References
42
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 12
FWCI
15.87
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Ministry of Earth Sciences
  • Ministry of Education, India
  • National Institutes of Health (7r29dc000787-06)
  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (DCR29 011, DC00787, DCR29 02292)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
Keywords
specific language impairment, morphological productivity, inflectional morphology, past tense, zero marking, item frequency, phonological features, neighborhood similarity, dual-mechanism model, elementary school students, English morphology
MeSH terms
Child, Child Language, Humans, Language Disorders, Language Tests, Severity of Illness Index

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review