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Research has revealed a relation between phonological working memory (PWM) and language abilities, showing that children with language-learning impairments have poorer PWM than their typically-developing peers (Montgomery et al., 2010). Limited work has examined PWM in relation to sentence production abilities in school-aged children. We hypothesized that PWM abilities would predict performance on the Formulated Sentences (FS) subtest of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals – IV, of typically-developing and language-learning impaired school-aged children (N=273). Additionally, we hypothesized that the children's PWM abilities would correlate with characteristics of their correct formulated sentences, measured by lexical diversity, length, and complexity (hypothesis 2), and that PWM would correlate with processing fluency, measured by mazes (hypothesis 3) and pauses (hypothesis 4). For our fifth hypothesis, we predicted there would be group differences in PWM and sentence characteristics when comparing the typically-developing children to children with language-learning impairment. We examined these hypotheses with data from a subset of 27 children with language-learning impairment and 27 typically-developing peers. Results support our first and third hypotheses and partially support our fifth hypothesis but not our second or fourth hypotheses. These results suggest that PWM can be used to predict FS scores and that PWM may be more closely related to the types of errors in children’s sentences. Furthermore, results from our fifth hypothesis suggest that deficits in PWM and sentence production may simply co-occur but not interact in children with language-learning impairment.

No description available.

Some persons with aphasia exhibit a selective verb deficit, which results in a reduced ability to produce verbs in most contexts. A functional level (Bock & Levelt, 1994) impairment may result in impaired sentence production because the verb serves as the semantic-syntactic interface of a sentence. This interface is related to a verb’s relationship with its arguments/thematics. Arguments fill the syntactic slots of subject and object, and those same words serve as thematic roles by referring to who does what to whom. The current study investigates the effect of Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST) on sentence production using a single subject experimental design across subjects in 4 participants, 2 with nonfluent aphasia and 2 with fluent aphasia. Participants received semantic treatment aimed at re-strengthening the connections between a verb (e.g., measure) and related thematic pairs that refer to the doer and receiver of the action (e.g., carpenter/lumber, chef/sugar). The ability to produce thematic role pairs for trained verbs was tested during treatment while generalization to the ability to produce sentences containing a subject, verb, and object in a picture description task with trained verbs (e.g., The carpenter is measuring the stairs.) and semantically related untrained verbs (e.g., The nurse is weighing the baby.) was monitored. In addition, pre- and post-treatment single word retrieval of verbs (The Northwestern Verb Production Battery (NVPB) (Thompson, 2002)) and nouns (The Boston Naming Test (Goodglass & Kaplan, 1983)) was examined as well as sentence production abilities in unrelated picture description (NVPB) and constrained connected speech tasks. All participants met treatment criteria and exhibited generalization to sentence production with sentences containing trained and semantically related untrained verbs. Participants 1, 2, and 3 exhibited improvements on all pre- and post-treatment measures, including connected speech. Participant 4 exhibited gains on multiple measures but did not show improvement in connected speech. These findings indicate that treatment aimed at strengthening the verb network results in improved word retrieval in naming and sentence production across multiple tasks. Theoretical and clinical implications regarding the impact of using VNeST on rehabilitation of sentence production deficits in aphasia are discussed. / text

This research involved two observational studies. It explored the scaffolding processes as part of classroom pedagogy. The research shed light on the way a teacher's instructional methodology took shape in the classroom. The target event for this study was the time in which a novice learner was engaged publically in uttering a sentence in Arabic in response to a task posed by the teacher. The central question was: What does the teacher do to assist and support this interactive sentence production process? It was decided to label this assistance and support as "scaffolding," i.e., temporary support to help a learner accomplish a challenging task slightly beyond his or her current level of proficiency. The research involved detailed descriptions and analysis of videotaped classroom episodes conducted in first-year Arabic language classrooms at a private liberal arts college during a three-month period. A central finding in this study was that oral Arabic sentence production was achieved through several related steps. These steps involved providing the students a pattern to follow, subsequently removing the pattern, and asking the students to produce sentences after explaining the grammatical rules. The teachers differed in the extent to which they launched models and patterns for students to follow.

In the study of language production in aging, an important question relates to the relationship between lexical retrieval and syntactic production. Studies have reported changes in syntactic production across the lifespan, but their underlying cause remains unclear. In younger adults, it has been suggested that lexical factors, such as an item‟s semantic or phonological representation influence syntactic production; however, the full nature of this influence remains unclear. Studies investigating the type of sentence produced have found semantic facilitation and phonological interference (e.g., Bock, 1986, 1987), but studies investigating response time (e.g., Meyer, 1996) have found the opposite effects. This investigation sought to examine the influence of lexical level information on sentence production in younger and older adults. This was accomplished by concurrently examining reaction time and sentence type effects. In Experiment 1, 61 adults (mean age: 21.8 years) were presented with pictures and distractor words (unrelated, or semantically or phonologically related). Three stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) were used (-1000ms, -150ms and 150ms). Participants were required to describe each picture. Using an analysis of variance, response time was compared across the different conditions and using generalized estimating equations, the type of sentence produced and the position of the primed word were compared. In Experiment 2, phonological distractors were excluded, and one SOA (-150ms) was used. Testing involved 83 younger adults (mean age: 22.9 years) and 56 older adults (mean age: 74.7 years). In Experiment 1, semantic distractors resulted in related nouns being produced more often in the subject position. This effect was observed in the analysis of the position of the target noun, but not in the analysis of the type of sentence produced. There were no effects of phonological distractors. In Experiment 2, semantic distractors influenced the type of sentence produced for both age groups. The groups differed only in error production. No reaction time effects were observed in either experiment. This investigation successfully demonstrated an influence of lexical level information on the syntactic productions of younger and older adults. The two groups were similar in their productions, suggesting that aspects of syntactic production are preserved in older adults.

In the study of language production in aging, an important question relates to the relationship between lexical retrieval and syntactic production. Studies have reported changes in syntactic production across the lifespan, but their underlying cause remains unclear. In younger adults, it has been suggested that lexical factors, such as an item‟s semantic or phonological representation influence syntactic production; however, the full nature of this influence remains unclear. Studies investigating the type of sentence produced have found semantic facilitation and phonological interference (e.g., Bock, 1986, 1987), but studies investigating response time (e.g., Meyer, 1996) have found the opposite effects. This investigation sought to examine the influence of lexical level information on sentence production in younger and older adults. This was accomplished by concurrently examining reaction time and sentence type effects. In Experiment 1, 61 adults (mean age: 21.8 years) were presented with pictures and distractor words (unrelated, or semantically or phonologically related). Three stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) were used (-1000ms, -150ms and 150ms). Participants were required to describe each picture. Using an analysis of variance, response time was compared across the different conditions and using generalized estimating equations, the type of sentence produced and the position of the primed word were compared. In Experiment 2, phonological distractors were excluded, and one SOA (-150ms) was used. Testing involved 83 younger adults (mean age: 22.9 years) and 56 older adults (mean age: 74.7 years). In Experiment 1, semantic distractors resulted in related nouns being produced more often in the subject position. This effect was observed in the analysis of the position of the target noun, but not in the analysis of the type of sentence produced. There were no effects of phonological distractors. In Experiment 2, semantic distractors influenced the type of sentence produced for both age groups. The groups differed only in error production. No reaction time effects were observed in either experiment. This investigation successfully demonstrated an influence of lexical level information on the syntactic productions of younger and older adults. The two groups were similar in their productions, suggesting that aspects of syntactic production are preserved in older adults.

Purpose: Response Elaboration Training (RET) is a treatment program for increasing the amount of information contained in the speech of individuals with aphasia. This study employed a sentence production task (SPT) to examine whether RET will (1) generalize to a task not worked on in treatment and (2) affect syntactic performance. Methods and Procedures: Three adults with chronic non-fluent Broca’s aphasia received RET in this prospective, repeated case study. The dependent variable was a SPT requiring the participant to put a verb in a sentence. Changes in the syntactic performance of the participant’s sentence productions were classified across three parameters: (1) syntactic structure, (2) grammatical completeness, and (3) semantic appropriateness. Results: Findings of this study indicate that RET improves the syntactic performance of individuals with chronic Broca’s aphasia and generalizes to a task not worked on in treatment. Participant responses to the SPT showed increased complexity in syntactic structures, improved grammaticality, and improved topic relevancy. In addition, qualitative improvements were seen in 5 randomly selected verbs for each participant. These improvements included increased length of sentences and fewer false starts, interjections, and disfluencies. Finally, improvements on the Western Aphasia Battery and two picture description tasks were evinced for two participants.

[pt] O processamento da concordância de número sujeito-verbo na produção de sentenças por falantes do dialeto culto do português brasileiro é investigado. A dissertação focaliza os chamados erros de atração e seu principal objetivo é identificar os fatores que interferem no processamento da concordância e prover uma explicação psicolingüística que seja compatível com pressupostos do Programa Minimalista da Lingüística Gerativa. Mais especificamente, busca-se examinar: i) as condições que favorecem os erros e as propriedades sintáticas que levam um núcleo interveniente a ser tomado como o controlador da concordância; ii) a interferência de informação morfofonológica de número dos elementos que integram os modificadores do DP sujeito; iii) a interferência de informação semântica de número no estabelecimento da concordância. Ainda como objetivo específico busca-se distinguir em termos estruturais os DPs responsáveis pelos erros de atração daqueles que licenciam uma forma singular ou plural do verbo - as chamadas construções partitivas. Aplica-se uma tarefa psicolingüística envolvendo julgamento de gramaticalidade a fim de investigar diferenças de processamento da concordância entre as construções partitivas e os DPs complexos. A relevância dos tópicos investigados se deve ao fato de estes permitirem uma discussão mais ampla acerca da autonomia do formulador sintático. Parte-se de vasta revisão da literatura, na qual se reportam interferências sintáticas, semânticas e morfofonológicas no processamento da concordância em diferentes línguas. Explicações apresentadas por modelos de produção interativos e não-interativos são discutidas. Inclui-se ainda uma caracterização da concepção minimalista de língua, com o tratamento da concordância como processo de valoração de traços formais, e um modelo de produção de natureza serial, não-interativo, que incorpora um parser- monitorador funcionando paralelamente à formulação dos enunciados - modelo PMP (produção monitorada por parser). Em seguida, reportam-se 5 experimentos com falantes de português. Os resultados indicaram efeito de marcação e de distância linear entre o núcleo do sujeito e o verbo, com mais erros para núcleo do sujeito não-marcado (singular) e linearmente distante do verbo, e efeito de posição estrutural do núcleo interveniente, com maior incidência de erros para os núcleos hierarquicamente próximos do nó mais alto do DP sujeito e núcleos inseridos em PPs argumentos. Um efeito semântico de distributividade associado a efeito de marcação também foi obtido. Quanto a fatores morfofonológicos, a informação de número no determinante (e não no nome) mostrou-se crucial para a identificação do número do DP sujeito. É proposta uma versão ampliada e revista do modelo PMP que unifica explicações para os erros de concordância em termos de uma escala de acessibilidade da representação do DP sujeito pela memória de trabalho e que leva em consideração as expectativas do parser como possível fator de interferência em erros de atração. Essa interferência ocorreria após o parsing do primeiro DP e afetaria a codificação morfofonológica do verbo. Em suma, a tese aqui veiculada é a de que os erros de concordância não ocorrem na computação sintática e que o formulador sintático atua de forma autônoma. / [en] The processing of subject-verb number agreement in sentence production by speakers of the standard dialect of the Brazilian Portuguese is investigated. The dissertation focuses on attraction errors and its main aim is to identify the factors that interfere in agreement processing and to provide a psycholinguistic account, which is compatible with assumptions of the Minimalist Program of Generative Linguistics. This work examines, in particular: i) the conditions that favor attraction errors and the syntactic properties which make an intervenient head to be considered as the agreement controller; ii) the role of morphophonological information on number provided by the DP subject modifiers; iii) the interference of conceptual number in agreement. Additionally, the work intends to distinguish, in structural terms, the DPs responsible for attraction errors from those DPs that allow a singular and a plural form of the verb - the so-called partitive constructions. A psycholinguistic procedure of grammaticality judgment is conducted in order to verify agreement processing differences between partitive constructions and complex DPS. The relevance of these topics is due to the fact that they enable a more comprehensive discussion on the autonomy of the syntactic formulator in language production. An extensive review of the existing literature was carried out and results are reported, concerning the interference from syntactic, semantic and morphophonological factors on agreement processing in different languages. Explanations provided by interactive and non-interactive models are discussed in this work. The minimalist conception of language is presented according to which agreement is described as a feature valuation process and a serial non-interactive production model is characterized, which incorporates a monitoring-parser that works in parallel with speech formulation - PMP model (parser monitored production). A total of 5 experiments with Portuguese speakers are reported. The results show an effect of markedness and linear distance between the subject and the verb, with more errors caused by non-marked (singular) subject heads that are linearly distant from the verb, and an effect of the structural position of the intervenient head, with a large number of errors for intervenient heads that are near to the upper phrasal marker of the DP and for heads which are inserted in PP arguments. A semantic effect of distributivity associated with an effect of markedness was also obtained. As far as morphphonological factors, number information of the determiner (and not of the noun) has shown to be critical to subject number identification. A revised and improved version of the PMP model is proposed that unifies possible explanations for agreement in terms of on an accessibility scale of the DP subject representation in the working memory and that takes into account parser predictions as a possible factor of interference in attraction errors. This interference would occur after the parsing of the DP and would affect the morphophonological encoding of the verb. In sum, the main argument of the thesis is that agreement errors do not occur in the syntactic computation and that the syntactic formulator works autonomously.

This study measured the effect of mode of discourse and developmental factors on composition length, syntactic complexity, and sentence-production error rate in the writing of secondary school students. The study also included a descriptive analysis of syntactic and logical patterns found in the sentence production errors. The 297 students whose writing samples provided the data for this study were enrolled in grades 7, 9, and 11. The students were divided into low and high within-grade developmental groups. Each student wrote two compositions, one in the descriptive mode and one in the persuasive mode.