L’objectif de cette thèse est l’étude du développement de l’attention auditive et des capacités de discrimination langagière chez l’enfant né prématurément ou à terme. Les derniers mois de grossesse sont particulièrement importants pour le développement cérébral de l’enfant et les conséquences d’une naissance prématurée sur le développement peuvent être considérables. Les enfants nés prématurément sont plus à risque de développer une variété de troubles neurodéveloppementaux que les enfants nés à terme. Même en l’absence de dommages cérébraux visibles, de nombreux enfants nés avant terme sont à risque de présenter des troubles tels que des retards langagiers ou des difficultés attentionnelles. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons donc une méthode d’investigation des processus préattentionnels auditifs et de discrimination langagière, à l’aide de l’électrophysiologie à haute densité et des potentiels évoqués auditifs (PEAs). Deux études ont été réalisées. La première visait à mettre sur pied un protocole d’évaluation de l’attention auditive et de la discrimination langagière chez l’enfant en santé, couvrant différents stades de développement (3 à 7 ans, 8 à 13 ans, adultes ; N = 40). Pour ce faire, nous avons analysé la composante de Mismatch Negativity (MMN) évoquée par la présentation de sons verbaux (syllabes /Ba/ et /Da/) et non verbaux (tons synthétisés, Ba : 1578 Hz/2800 Hz ; Da : 1788 Hz/2932 Hz). Les résultats ont révélé des patrons d’activation distincts en fonction de l’âge et du type de stimulus présenté. Chez tous les groupes d’âge, la présentation des stimuli non verbaux a évoqué une MMN de plus grande amplitude et de latence plus rapide que la présentation des stimuli verbaux. De plus, en réponse aux stimuli verbaux, les deux groupes d’enfants (3 à 7 ans, 8 à 13 ans) ont démontré une MMN de latence plus tardive que celle mesurée dans le groupe d’adultes. En revanche, en réponse aux stimuli non verbaux, seulement le groupe d’enfants de 3 à 7 ans a démontré une MMN de latence plus tardive que le groupe d’adulte. Les processus de discrimination verbaux semblent donc se développer plus tardivement dans l’enfance que les processus de discrimination non verbaux. Dans la deuxième étude, nous visions à d’identifier les marqueurs prédictifs de déficits attentionnels et langagiers pouvant découler d’une naissance prématurée à l’aide des PEAs et de la MMN. Nous avons utilisé le même protocole auprès de 74 enfants âgés de 3, 12 et 36 mois, nés prématurément (avant 34 semaines de gestation) ou nés à terme (au moins 37 semaines de gestation). Les résultats ont révélé que les enfants nés prématurément de tous les âges démontraient un délai significatif dans la latence de la réponse MMN et de la P150 par rapport aux enfants nés à terme lors de la présentation des sons verbaux. De plus, les latences plus tardives de la MMN et de la P150 étaient également corrélées à des performances langagières plus faibles lors d’une évaluation neurodéveloppementale. Toutefois, aucune différence n’a été observée entre les enfants nés à terme ou prématurément lors de la discrimination des stimuli non verbaux, suggérant des capacités préattentionnelles auditives préservées chez les enfants prématurés. Dans l’ensemble, les résultats de cette thèse indiquent que les processus préattentionnels auditifs se développent plus tôt dans l'enfance que ceux associés à la discrimination langagière. Les réseaux neuronaux impliqués dans la discrimination verbale sont encore immatures à la fin de l'enfance. De plus, ceux-ci semblent être particulièrement vulnérables aux impacts physiologiques liés à la prématurité. L’utilisation des PEAs et de la MMN en réponse aux stimuli verbaux en bas âge peut fournir des marqueurs prédictifs des difficultés langagières fréquemment observées chez l’enfant prématuré. / The aim of this thesis is to investigate early auditory attention and language development in full-term and preterm children. The last months of pregnancy are particularly important for the child’s cerebral development, and the impacts of a premature birth on his/her neurodevelopment can be substantial. Prematurely born children are at higher risk of developing a variety of neurodevelopmental disorders compared to full-terms. Even without visible brain injury, many premature children are at risk of presenting disorders such as language delays and attentional difficulties. In this thesis, we suggest an approach to investigate pre-attentional processes and early language discrimination abilities in infants using high-density electrophysiology and auditory event-related potentials (AERPs). We conducted two studies. The first one aimed at establishing a paradigm to evaluate auditory attention and language discrimination development in healthy full-term children, over different developmental stages (3 to 7 years, 8 to 13 years, adults; N = 40). To do so, we analyzed the Mismatch Negativity (MMN) component in response to speech (spoken syllables /Ba/ and /Da/) and non-speech stimuli (frequency-synthesized tones, Ba: 1578 Hz/2800 Hz; Da: 1788 Hz/2932 Hz). Distinct patterns of activation were revealed according to stimulus type and age. In all groups, non-speech stimuli elicited an MMN of larger amplitude and earlier latency than did the presentation of speech stimuli. Moreover, in response to speech stimuli, both children groups (3 to 7 years, 8 to 13 years) showed a significantly delayed MMN response compared to the adults group. In contrast, in response to non-speech stimuli, only the youngest group (3 to 7 years) showed a significantly delayed MMN compared to the adults. Age-related differences for tone discrimination therefore appear to occur earlier in children’s development than do the discriminative processes for speech sounds. In the second study, we aimed at identifying the electrophysiological markers of auditory attention and language deficits often incurred by a premature birth. We thus presented this paradigm to 74 infants born preterm (before 34 gestational weeks) or full-term (at least 37 gestational weeks), aged 3, 12 and 36 months old. Our results indicated that preterm children of all age groups showed a significantly delayed MMN and P150 responses to speech stimuli compared to full-terms. Moreover, significant correlations were found between the delayed MMN and P150 responses to speech sounds and lower language scores on a neurodevelopmental assessment. However, no significant differences were found between full-term and preterm children for the MMN in response to non-speech stimuli, suggesting preserved pre-attentional auditory discrimination abilities in these children. Altogether, the findings from this thesis indicate that the neurodevelopmental processes associated with auditory pre-attentional skills occur earlier in childhood compared to language discrimination processes. Cerebral networks involved in speech discrimination are still immature in late childhood. Furthermore, neural networks involved in speech discrimination and language development also appear to be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of prematurity. The use of AERPs and the MMN response to speech stimuli in infancy can thus provide predictive markers of language difficulties commonly seen in premature infants.

The thesis provides comprehensive information about the Old Czech translation of the chronicle Martimiani. In accordance with the stated goals, it interprets it in the context of the original texts, in the context of Old Czech variant texts, as a document of language development and in the literary-cultural and historical context. Above all, it characterizes the preserved Old Czech sources of the chronicle, clarify the genesis of the Old Czech translation, determines its place in contemporary writing, defines its influence on the development of Czech literature and the language and tries to understand and justify its changing popularity. The theses presents a brief codicological description of manuscripts and the incunabulum, a description of the orthography of particular manuscripts and the incunabulum, a description of language in all plans (from phonic through morphological to syntactic), with particular attention to the developmental dynamics of the language, both within one source and in the comparison between source texts. Based on the comparison of Old Czech sources with each other and with foreign language pretexts, it describes relations between particular sources and outlines the likely form of the text tradition of the monument. It summarizes and disseminates information about the Old...

Introdução: Crianças com transtorno fonológico (TF) apresentam dificuldade na percepção de fala, em processar estímulos acústicos quando apresentados de forma rápida e em sequência. A percepção dos sons complexos da fala, dependem da integridade no processo de codificação analisado pelo Sistema Nervoso Auditivo. Por meio do Potencial Evocado Auditivo de Tronco Encefálico com estímulo complexo (PEATEc) é possível investigar a representação neural dos sons em níveis corticais e obter informações diretas sobre como a estrutura do som da sílaba falada é codificada no sistema auditivo. Porém, acredita-se que esse potencial sofre interferências tanto de processos bottom-up quanto top-down, o que não se sabe é quanto e como cada um desses processos modifica as respostas do PEATEc. Uma das formas de investigar a real influência dos aspectos top-down e bottom-up nos resultados do PEATEc é estimulando separadamente esses dois processos por meio do treinamento auditivo e da terapia fonoaudiológica. Objetivo: Verificar o impacto da estimulação sensorial (processamento bottom-up) e cognitiva (processamento top-down), separadamente, nos diferentes domínios da resposta eletrofisiológica do PEATEc. Método: Participaram deste estudo 11 crianças diagnosticadas com TF, com idades entre 7 e 10:11, submetidas a avaliação comportamental e eletrofisiológica e então dividas nos grupos Bottom-up (B-U) (N=6) e Top-down T-D (N=5). A estimulação bottom-up foi voltada ao treinamento das habilidades sensoriais, através de softwares de computador. A estimulação top-down foi realizada por meio de tarefas para estimular as habilidades cognitiva por meio do Programa de Estimulação Fonoaudiológica (PEF). Ambas as estimulações foram aplicadas uma vez por semana, num período de aproximadamente 45 minutos por 12 semanas. Resultados: O grupo B-U apresentou melhoras em relação aos domínios onset e harmônicos e no valor da pontuação do escore após ser submetido à estimulação bottom-up. Por sua vez, após serem submetidos à estimulação top-down, o grupo T-D apresentou melhoras em relação aos domínios onset, espectro-temporal, fronteiras do envelope e harmônicos e para os valores da pontuação do escore. Conclusão: Diante dos resultados obtidos neste estudo, foi possível observar que a estimulação sensorial (processamento bottom-up) e a estimulação cognitiva (processamento top-down) mostraram impactar de forma diferente a resposta eletrofisiológica do PEATEc / Introduction: Children with speech sound disorder present difficulties in speech perception specially regarding the processing of acoustic stimuli when they occur rapidly and sequentially. The perception of complex sounds of speech depends on the integrity of the codification process analyzed by the auditory system. Through the Auditory Brainstem Response to complex sounds (cABR) it is possible to investigate the neural representation of sounds in cortical levels to obtain direct information about how the sound structure of the stressed syllable is codified in the auditory system. However, it is believed that bottom-up and top-down processes interfere in the cABR, though the level of intensity and the way through which they can change the response of the cABR is still unkown. One of the methods for investigating the actual influences of the bottom-up and top-down processes in cABR responses is by stimulating separately those two processes by means of auditory training and speech therapy. Objective: Verify the impact of both sensory stimulation (bottom-up processing) and cognitive stimulation (top-down processing) separately, in the different domains of the cABR electrophysiological response. Method: The participants of the study were 11 children of 7 to 10:11 year-old diagnosed with speech sound disorder, who underwent behavioral and electrophysiological assessment and were divided in the following groups: Bottom-up (B-U) (N=6) and Top-down (T-D) (N-5). The bottom-up stimulation focused on sensorial skills by using computer softwares. Top-down stimulation was prosecuted by using tasks to stimulate cognitive skills through the Speech Stimulation Program. Both stimuli were applied once a week for 45 minutes, in a period of 12 weeks. Results: The B-U group showed improvement in relation to onset and harmonic domains, and in relation to the score punctuation values after being subjected to bottom-up stimulation. On the other hand, the T-D group, after being subjected to top-down stimulation, showed improvement in relation to the onset, time domain spectrum, envelope boundaries and harmonics, and to the score punctuation values. Conclusions: According to the results of this study, it was possible to conclude that sensorial stimulation (bottom-up processing) and cognitive stimulation (top-down processing) showed different impacts on the cABR electrophysiological response

O objetivo deste estudo foi descrever o desempenho de crianças com e sem Transtorno Fonológico em medidas de gravidade, inconsistência de fala, consistência de erros de fala e estimulabilidade. Foram avaliadas 130 crianças falantes do Português Brasileiro, de ambos os gêneros, e idades entre 5:0 e 10:10 anos, sendo 55 com transtorno fonológico e 75 sem alterações fonológicas. A maioria das crianças com transtorno fonológico foi estimulável aos sons ausentes do inventário fonético demonstrando dificuldade em aplicá-los às situações comunicativas. Foram confirmados os efeitos de idade e gênero e determinados quatro valores de corte para a inconsistência de fala. A inconsistência de fala mostrou-se eficaz para avaliar a programação fonológica, e a estimulabilidade a produção motora. Os resultados da pesquisa sugerem que a programação fonológica se aprimora a cada ano de vida da criança e ocorre de forma diversa entre os gêneros. Já a produção motora da fala demonstrou semelhança no desempenho de meninos e meninas. As duas medidas estudadas mostraram-se eficazes para diferenciar crianças com e sem transtorno fonológico, bem como contribuíram para a identificação das dificuldades das crianças evidenciando serem complementares e essenciais para detectarem marcadores diagnósticos do transtorno fonológico. / The aim of this study was to describe the performance of children with and without Phonological Disorder in severity, speech inconsistency, speech errors consistency and stimulability measures. There were evaluated 130 subjects of both genders and ages between 5:0 and 10:10 years, 55 with phonological disorder and 75 without phonological alterations. Most of children with phonological disorder were stimulable for absent sounds of phonetic inventory showing difficulties in applying them to communicative situations. It was confirmed gender and age effects and established four cut-off values for speech inconsistency. Speech inconsistency was efficient to evaluate phonological programming and stimulability the motor production. Results suggested that the phonological programming is refined each year of life of children and occur differently between genders. The motor speech production showed similarity between boys and girls. The two measures studied were effective in differentiating children eith and eithout phonological disorders as well as contributing to the identification of difficulties of children showing that they are complementary and essential to detect diagnostic markers of phonological disorders.

O TRANSTORNO DO DÉFICIT DE ATENÇÃO /HIPERATIVIDADE (TDA/H) afeta memória operacional, planejamento, auto-regulação de motivação e limiar para a ação dirigida, alterando funções executivas, inclusive linguagem. Crianças com TDA/H apresentam distúrbios da linguagem, mostrando baixo rendimento nos testes de vocabulário, sintaxe, fluência, memória operacional e discurso. OBJETIVOS: avaliar tipo e freqüência das alterações da linguagem oral em crianças com TDA/H; verificar a evolução desses distúrbios após dois meses de tratamento com metilfenidato; correlacionar produção do discurso do tipo recontagem com memória operacional. MÉTODOS: trinta e seis pacientes de sete a 14 anos de idade com diagnóstico de TDA/H pelos critérios do DSM-IV, QI 85, sem co-morbidades definidas, sem déficits sensoriais e com avaliação neuropsicológica prévia foram submetidos à seguinte avaliação fonoaudiológica: anamnese; avaliação clínica do sistema estomatognático; função respiratória; discriminação auditiva; praxias orais; teste de imitação do protocolo ABFW; teste de vocabulário Boston Naming test; discurso narrativo e análise da recontagem de estória (gramática da história, número de frases, freqüência e tipo de erros). A avaliação fonoaudiológica foi aplicada antes do início do tratamento com metilfenidato sendo que seus resultados foram comparados com o grupo controle. Após dois meses de tratamento medicamentoso as crianças foram reavaliadas e os resultados foram comparados com a avaliação inicial. Verificou-se evolução da linguagem falada após dois meses de tratamento com medicamento estimulante. RESULTADOS: Os pacientes mostraram comprometimento no sistema estomatognático, na respiração, na discriminação auditiva, no acesso lexical, na fluência, na compreensão e na organização do discurso narrativo em tarefa de recontagem de estória. Na reavaliação os resultados mostraram melhora significante nos seguintes aspectos da linguagem falada. CONCLUSÃO: nos pacientes com TDA/H, os distúrbios da linguagem falada são freqüentes, podendo estar diretamente associados às dificuldades de aprendizado, já que o desenvolvimento da linguagem falada é pré-requisito importante para a aquisição da linguagem escrita. / OBJECTIVE: ATTENTION-DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER (ADHD) exists alone in approximately 30-40% of the children diagnosed with it , and frequently are documented high rates of one or more comorbidities, pointing out the language disabilities. The patients present poor performance in tests of vocabulary, syntax, fluency, working memory and speech. The present study evaluate the type and incidence of oral language disabilities in children with ADHD. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Thirty and six children (aged 7-14) with ADHD, IQ 85, without psychiatric comorbid conditions or sensorial deficits are matched for age and level of education to thirty and four control subjects. The two groups were assessed by a speech pathology evaluation including: history, clinical examination of stomatognathic system; respiratory function; hearing discrimination; oral praxis; imitation for the protocol of the Test of Childlike Language ABFW; vocabulary for the Boston Naming Test; narrative speech in a task of recounting of story - analysis of the grammar of the history, of the number of sentences, of the frequency and of the types of mistake and, of the fluency for the ABFW. RESULTS: The children with ADHD showed compromising in the stomatognathic system, in the breathing, in the hearing discrimination, in the lexical access, in the fluency, in the understanding and in the organization of the narrative speech in task of recounting of story. Compared with the control group, the patients with ADHD perform significantly slower and were less efficient . CONCLUSION: The presence of faults in several areas of the language spoken in patients with TDAH is a frequent find and this fact can be straightly associate with learning disabilities, which are frequent in these patients, since the development of the well-known language is essential for fully acquiring written language.

Children born to teen mothers tend to score lower on language development assessments and to have school readiness delays. To support teen mothers and their children in improving language development, educators need information about mothers' daily interactions with their children and how they contribute to their children's language development. The purpose of this descriptive case study was to understand mothers'perceptions of how they influenced their children's language development through play, routines, and other informal interactions. Flavell, Vygotsky, and Bruner's views on how learners' construct knowledge informed the study. Research questions were focused on the mothers' perceptions regarding interactions during routines and during play and on the mothers' beliefs about how influential they were developing their children's language skills. Data were gathered through semistructured interviews, journals, and follow-up questions addressed in narratives or additional interviews. A combination of a priori and open coding was used to support inductive analysis. Participants believed that they influenced their children's development and wanted to increase what they know about overall development and specifically language development. They indicated that they did not have enough time for reading, that they used songs and chants frequently, and that participation in the study made them think more about the importance of conversations shared within activities. The results of this study may help teen mothers, their families, and those who provide education and support to teen mothers in mentoring groups, faith-based support groups, and alternative high schools. Social change will occur when young parents are supported in enhancing the lives of their children.

The aim of this dissertation is to analyze the linguistic development of Lithuanian children adopted to Italy focusing on the expression of action (and state) as one of the most important communicative tasks; to define the stages of acquisition of Italian as a second language, the speed with which the stages occur and the factors that influence it; to investigate the position of Lithuanian in the linguistic repertoire of the adopted children. In order to achieve these goals a sociolinguistic survey of adoptive parents has been conducted, adopted children have been observed for a year after the adoption, spontaneous speech data were collected of one selected child, the data then has been transcribed and annotated for analysis with the program CHILDES, a detailed analysis of the expression of action / state has been conducted. Summarizing the results of the research, the dissertation confirms that the adopted children rapidly acquire the new language (L2), they reach a very high level of linguistic quality, comparable to that of the native speakers, even though their acquisition is completely (or mostly) natural and not formal. The expression of action / state starts by using pragmatic principles and gradually passing to the grammatical ones whereas the grammar is acquired in a typical evolving sequence. Even the second language acquisition of the older adopted children has some similarities with the children’s mother tongue acquisition (L1). Age is not the major factor that... [to full text] / Šios disertacijos tikslas – ištirti iš Lietuvos į Italiją įvaikintų vaikų kalbos raidą po įvaikinimo, didžiausią dėmesį skiriant veiksmo raiškai, kaip vienai svarbiausių komunikacijos tikslų; nustatyti antrosios, italų, kalbos įsisavinimo etapus, spartą ir ją lemiančius veiksnius; išsiaiškinti lietuvių kalbos padėtį įvaikintų vaikų kalbiniame repertuare. Šiam tikslui pasiekti buvo atlikta sociolingvistinė įtėvių apklausa, metus laiko po įvaikinimo stebėti vaikai ir rinkti tyrimui pasirinkto vaiko spontaninės kalbos duomenys, kurie vėliau transkribuoti ir užkoduoti analizei pagal programą CHILDES, atlikta išsami veiksmo / būsenos raiškos raidos analizė. Apibendrinant atlikto tyrimo rezultatus, disertacijoje pagrindžiama, kad įvaikinti vaikai itin sparčiai įsisavina naują (K2) kalbą, jie pasiekia labai aukštą, gimtakalbiams prilyginamą, tikslinės kalbos kokybės lygį nepaisant to, kad jų kalbos įsisavinimas yra vien tik (ar daugiausia) natūralus, o ne formalus. Veiksmo raiškos raida vyksta palaipsniui nuo pragmatinių principų pereinant prie gramatinių, o gramatika įsisavinama tipiškai, sudėtingėjančia seka. Net ir vyresnių įvaikintų vaikų antrosios kalbos įsisavinimas turi tam tikrų panašumų su mažų gimtakalbių (K1) vaikų raida. Amžius nėra pagrindinis veiksnys, leidžiantis įvaikintiems vaikams greitai ir sėkmingai įsisavinti naują kalbą. Didžiausią įtaką turi tarptautinio įvaikinimo situacijoje palanki kalbinė aplinka. Per metus naujoji kalba tampa visai ar beveik vienintelė... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

L’étude présente l’élaboration du premier outil d’évaluation normalisée du langage destiné aux enfants francophones d’âge préscolaire des pays africains qui se caractérisent par l’absence de services publics en orthophonie et la méconnaissance des retards de langage. En s’inspirant des techniques psychométriques langagières utilisées en Amérique du nord et en se basant sur les théories d’acquisition du langage, on a construit un outil appelé Batterie de tests de dépistage approfondi (BATEDA) qui compte onze tests répartis en trois sous-batteries évaluant respectivement l’intégrité des modalités de transmission du langage (BATEM), les composantes langagières (BATEL) et la mémoire verbale (TMV). A partir d’un échantillon de 159 enfants camerounais francophones, on a normalisé la batterie suivant la cote z et les rangs en centile. Les tests présentent une fiabilité inter-juge et intra-juge (p<0,05), une cohérence interne globale d’environ 96% (α de Cronbach=0,958) et une validité prédictive de la réussite scolaire des enfants (r=0,700). Les stratégies d’application de la BATEDA visent à favoriser la pratique du dépistage systématique et la prise en charge des retards de langage au Cameroun, en mettant à contribution les enseignants et les parents comme principaux intervenants. Les implications de cette étude sont de trois ordres : (1) une meilleure connaissance des difficultés langagières, la revalorisation des personnes atteintes et une attitude de vigilance sociale; (2) l’instauration de la pratique de dépistage précoce favorable à l’intervention; (3) une potentielle diminution du taux d’exclusion et d’abandon scolaire d’enfants présentant des retards langagiers à travers un enseignement ciblé en leur faveur. / The study aims at the building of the first normalized language assessment test intended for French-speaking preschoolers living in African countries where language delays are ignored and where there is a lack of public services in speech-language therapy. Being inspired by the format of standardized language tests, and based on language acquisition theories, we developed a tool named Batterie de tests de dépistage approfondi (BATEDA) which combine eleven tests organized in three batteries assessing respectively modalities (BATEM), language components (BATEL) and memory (TMV). From a sample of 159 Cameroonian French-speaking four-to-five-years old children, the tool has been normalized using standard scores technique (the z score and the percentile). Tests have an inter-scorer reliability, an internal consistency of 96% (α de Cronbach=0,958) and a predictive validity of the primary school success of children (r=0,700). The application strategies of BATEDA aim at encouraging the screening of language delays in order to take charge of these difficulties in Cameroon by implicating teachers and parents as main participants. Among the implications of this study, we have the better knowledge of difficulties related to language delays, the better consideration of children affected, the establishment of early screening and language assessment on behalf of intervention, and a potential decrease of the rate of school abandon and expulsion of children with language delays.

Children’s utterances have been studied in different languages; however, only a few studies refer to Swedish. The aim of the present study is to describe utterance types, subordinate clauses and utterance length for a group of three and four year old Swedish children without known functional impairments. The study included 29 children, 17 girls and 12 boys, in a larger city in the south-east of Sweden. The children, all native Swedish speakers, were aged 3;0 to 4;11. Sound recordings were made during a playing session with one of the authors in the children’s day care centers.The utterances were divided into the categories elliptical responses, incomplete and partly unintelligible utterances, imitative utterances and independent utterances. Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) was calculated for the 50 first independent utterances. Subordinate clauses were classified and counted and placement of the sentence adverb was studied. Elliptical responses were frequently used. Incomplete or partly unintelligible utterances were relatively common, but imitative utterances were rare. Subordinate clauses were used by 23 of the 29 children. Relative subordinate clauses were the most common type, and were used across the age range. Most of the children placed the sentence adverbial correctly. The children had utterances ranging from one to 23 words, and the most common utterance length was four words. The MLU ranged from 2.36 to 7.04. Frequent use of subordinate clauses resulted in a higher MLU. The older children used subordinate clauses more frequently and had a lower percentage of elliptical responses. The MLU had a tendency to increase with age. The great variety in the results shown in the present study, can be explained by the fact that children aged three and four are in a process of developing their language. Children with a more frequent use of subordinate clauses had higher MLU values, suggesting a relation between language complexity and MLU. The results show that MLU is a reliable measure of children’s language level in the ages three and four years. / Barns yttranden har undersökts i flera studier på olika språk, men det finns endast ett fåtal studier som berör det svenska språket. Syftet med föreliggande studie är att beskriva yttrandetyper, bisatser och yttrandelängd hos en grupp tre- och fyraåriga svenska barn utan kända funktionsnedsättningar. I studien deltog 29 barn, 17 flickor och 12 pojkar, i en större tätort i sydöstra Sverige. Barnen var i åldern 3;0 till 4;11 och hade svenska som modersmål. Ljudupptagning skedde under samtal i en leksituation med en av uppsatsförfattarna på barnens förskola. Yttrandena delades in i kategorierna elliptiska svarsyttranden, ofullständiga eller delvis oförståeliga yttranden, imitativa yttranden och självständiga yttranden. Yttrandemedellängd (eng: Mean Length of Utterance, förkortat MLU) räknades ut för de 50 första självständiga yttrandena. Förekomst av olika bisatstyper och placering av satsadverbial i bisatser undersöktes också. Elliptiska svarsyttranden var vanliga hos barnen. Ofullständiga eller delvis oförståeliga yttranden förekom i viss utsträckning, och imitativa yttranden var ovanliga. Bisatser förekom hos 23 av de 29 barnen. ”Som” var den vanligaste bisatsinledaren och förekom i hela åldersgruppen. De flesta barnen placerade satsadverbialet korrekt i bisatserna. Barnens yttranden var mellan ett och 23 ord långa, och den vanligaste yttrandelängden var fyra ord. MLU varierade från 2,36 till 7,04. Frekvent användning av bisatser gav högre MLU. De äldre barnen använde fler bisatser och hade en mindre andel elliptiska svarsyttranden. MLU hade en viss tendens att öka med ålder. Barn i åldern tre till fyra år befinner sig i en språklig utvecklingsfas, vilket speglas i den stora variationen i resultaten. Att barn som använde många bisatser hade högt MLU tyder på ett samband mellan språklig förmåga och yttrandelängd. Detta visar i sin tur att MLU är ett tillförlitligt mått på barns språkliga nivå i åldern tre till fyra år.

La Théorie Usage et Construction (TUC) postule que l’enfant développe son langage, et plus précisément ses formes morphosyntaxiques, grâce à l’utilisation de processus cognitifs généraux qui permettent un mécanisme de complexification et de généralisation de ses propres productions ainsi que de celles issues de l’input. L’approche cognitivo-fonctionnelle n’a été appliquée à la dysphasie que dans peu d’études. De plus, l'acquisition de la syntaxe complexe chez l'enfant dysphasique est un domaine délaissé dans la littérature existante. Ainsi, dans ce travail de thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés aux difficultés des enfants dysphasiques pour la complexité morphosyntaxique à travers la lunette de la TUC, et ce en utilisant à les fois des tâches expérimentales et des situations de génération de langage spontané. Nous postulions que la complexité, concept au cœur de notre travail, est définie par ce qui est cognitivement coûteux, désignant ainsi les formes linguistiques rares, longues ou imbriquées. Notre travail met en évidence que les enfants dysphasiques peuvent être productifs seulement avec les schémas fréquents dans le langage qui leur est adressé, alors que les structures complexes, peu fréquentes dans l’input, sont particulièrement difficiles à appréhender pour eux. Dès lors, ces enfants ont besoin d’être confrontés à davantage d’exemplaires et de contextes de pratique pour que la masse critique suffisante soit atteinte et que l’apprentissage de constructions soit possible. Enfin, un lien relativement clair entre la difficulté de complexification syntaxique et les troubles de la généralisation est mis en évidence. / The Construction and Usage-based Theory (CUT) argues that children develop their language, and more precisely morphosyntactic structures, thanks to the use of general cognitive processes by complexifying and generalizing their own prior productions and productions used in the input. These hypotheses have been tested in children with specific language impairment (SLI) in very few studies. Moreover, development of complex syntax is a little studied area in the literature. Thus, the current doctoral thesis focused on complex syntax difficulties of children with SLI using spontaneous language samples and experimental tasks. This work defines complexity as linguistics forms which are rare, long or nested and more generally cognitively costly. The results obtained show that children with SLI use frequent forms heard in the input productively, whereas complex forms, which are rare in the input are difficult for them. These children need to be exposed to more exemplars and practice settings to reach critical mass and making possible learning of constructions. Finally, this current doctoral thesis highlights a relatively obvious link between complex syntax difficulties and lack of generalization of construction schemas.