ORCID Profile
0000-0002-1200-8064
Current Organisation
The University of Hong Kong
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Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 16-07-2021
DOI: 10.1044/2021_JSLHR-20-00680
Abstract: This study examined the effect of Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage for Late Talkers (VAULT) treatment on toddlers' expressive vocabulary and phonology. Parent acceptability of VAULT treatment was also considered. We used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline single case experimental design with three late talking toddlers aged 21–25 months. The treatment was delivered twice weekly in 30-min sessions for 8 weeks by a rotating team of four speech-language pathologists. Toddlers heard three of their 10 strategically selected target words a minimum of 64 times in play activities each session. Expressive vocabulary and phonology was assessed pre–post, with parent interviews conducted posttreatment. All toddlers increased production of target words and expressive vocabulary. Ambient expressive vocabulary size increased by an average of 16 words per week (range of 73–169 words learned over the treatment period). On a 20-item, single-word speech assessment, the toddlers' phonetic inventories increased on average from three to seven consonants, and five to eight vowels. Two toddlers used protowords pretreatment, which were replaced by recognizable attempts at words posttreatment. Parents reported the treatment was acceptable for the child and their family with future consideration of parent-based delivery of the treatment in the home. The results of this treatment provide further evidence of a model of intervention informed by the principles of implicit learning, and the interconnectedness of phonological and lexical learning. Investigation is required to establish the efficacy and feasibility of VAULT in clinical contexts. 0.23641/asha.14714733
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-10-2000
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 12-2004
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2004/104)
Abstract: Two studies of children's conversational language abilities are reported. In the first, mean length of utterance (MLU) and lexical ersity (D) were examined in a group of typically developing Cantonese-speaking children in Hong Kong. Regression analyses indicated a significant linear relationship between MLU and age ( R = .44) and a significant curvilinear relationship between D and age ( R = .73) in children age 27–68 months. MLU and D were moderately correlated with each other ( r = .23) however, the two measures showed no statistical relationship when the effect of age was partialled out. In a second study, the utterances of Chinese children with specific language impairment (SLI) were found to be significantly shorter and less lexically erse than typically developing children matched for age but similar to children matched for comprehension level. Discriminant analyses revealed that the combination of age, MLU, and D could be used to accurately differentiate children with SLI from both age-matched and language-matched children. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that these measures can be used jointly as a marker of SLI in Cantonese-speaking children.
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 10-2012
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2012/10-0291)
Abstract: This research explored the impact of neighborhood density (ND), word frequency (WF), and word length (WL) on the vocabulary size of Danish-speaking children. Given the particular phonological properties of Danish, the impact was expected to differ from that reported in studies on English and French. The monosyllabic words in the expressive lexicons of 894 Danish-speaking 2-year-old children were coded for ND, WF, and WL. Lexicons were extracted from parent checklists of the words spoken by their children. Regression revealed that ND, WF, WL, and age together predicted 47% of the variance in vocabulary size, with ND, WF, WL, and age uniquely accounting for 39%, 3.2%, 2.2%, and 2.8% of that variance, respectively. Children with small vocabularies had learned words that were denser and more frequent in the ambient language, and those words were shorter than the words of children with larger vocabularies. The 2 main findings were unexpected. The impact of ND for Danish-speaking children was not expected given the phonological properties of the language. The WF results differed from those of English because of the distribution of word classes on the language-relevant parent checklists. The strong role for ND in emerging languages found in other languages was replicated for Danish.
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 06-2005
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2005/043)
Abstract: Previous studies of verb morphology in children with specific language impairment (SLI) have been limited in the main to tense and agreement morphemes. Cantonese, which, like other Chinese languages, has no grammatical tense, presents an opportunity to investigate potential difficulties for children with SLI in other areas of verb morphology, via scrutiny of elements of its aspectual system. The performance of 3 groups of children ( n =15 in each group)—preschoolers with SLI, typically developing same-age peers, and younger, typically developing peers—was compared in procedures designed to elicit aspect forms. The children with SLI were less likely to produce both perfective and imperfective aspect markers. It is suggested that reasons for these findings are to be found in the sparse morphology of Cantonese and in the nonobligatory nature of these forms.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-1996
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 18-08-2017
DOI: 10.1044/2017_JSLHR-L-16-0285
Abstract: Recent studies indicate that school-age children's patterns of performance on measures of verbal and visuospatial short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) differ across types of neurodevelopmental disorders. Because these disorders are often characterized by early language delay, administering STM and WM tests to toddlers could improve prediction of neurodevelopmental outcomes. Toddler-appropriate verbal, but not visuospatial, STM and WM tasks are available. A toddler-appropriate visuospatial STM test is introduced. Tests of verbal STM, visuospatial STM, expressive vocabulary, and receptive vocabulary were administered to 92 English-speaking children aged 2–5 years. Mean test scores did not differ for boys and girls. Visuospatial and verbal STM scores were not significantly correlated when age was partialed out. Age, visuospatial STM scores, and verbal STM scores accounted for unique variance in expressive (51%, 3%, and 4%, respectively) and receptive vocabulary scores (53%, 5%, and 2%, respectively) in multiple regression analyses. Replication studies, a fuller test battery comprising visuospatial and verbal STM and WM tests, and a general intelligence test are required before exploring the usefulness of these STM tests for predicting longitudinal outcomes. The lack of an association between the STM tests suggests that the instruments have face validity and test independent STM skills.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 05-05-2010
Abstract: This study investigated the extent to which language skills at ages 2 to 4 years could discriminate Hong Kong Chinese poor from adequate readers at age 7. Selected were 41 poor readers (age M = 87.6 months) and 41 adequate readers (age M = 88.3 months). The two groups were matched on age, parents’ education levels, and nonverbal intelligence. The following language tasks were tested at different ages: vocabulary checklist and Cantonese articulation test at age 2 nonword repetition, Cantonese articulation, and receptive grammar at age 3 and nonword repetition, receptive grammar, sentence imitation, and story comprehension at age 4. Significant differences between the poor and adequate readers were found in the age 2 vocabulary knowledge, age 3 Cantonese articulation, and age 4 receptive grammar skill, sentence imitation, and story comprehension. Among these measures, sentence imitation showed the greatest power in discriminating poor and adequate readers.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2002
DOI: 10.1080/0269920021000034967
Abstract: Spontaneous speech s les were collected from 40 Cantonese-speaking children aged between 10 and 27 months. Over 7,000 vowels and diphthongs were transcribed and analysed to determine the accuracy of production of Cantonese vowels and diphthongs. A model of feature complexity was derived from the distinctive features of vowels to predict the route of development of vowels and diphthongs. Two factors were found to affect development: a linguistic factor (frequency of occurrence in the ambient language) and an articulatory factor (feature complexity). Early dependence on the feature complexity of segments at 15-18 months is superseded by ambient language influences by 24 months of age.
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 06-2010
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2009/08-0039)
Abstract: This study examined the narrative skills of Cantonese-speaking school-age children to fill a need for a normative language test for school-age children. To provide a benchmark of the narrative skills of Cantonese-speaking children to identify which of the microstructure components was the best predictor of age and to determine the diagnostic accuracy of the test components. Data were collected from 1,120 Cantonese-speaking children between the ages of 4 (years months) and 12 , using a story-retell of a 24-frame picture series. Four narrative components (syntactic complexity, semantic score, referencing, and connective use) were measured. Each measure reflected significant age-related differences in narrative ability. Regression analyses revealed that vocabulary and syntactic complexity were the best predictors of grade. All measures showed high sensitivity (86%–94%) but relatively low specificity (60%–90%) and modest likelihood ratio (LR) values: LR+ (2.15–9.42) and LR− (0.07–0.34). Narrative assessment can be standardized to be a reliable and valid instrument to assist in the identification of children with language impairment. Syntactic complexity is not only a strong predictor of grade but was also particularly vulnerable in Cantonese-speaking children with specific language impairment. Further diagnostic research using narrative analysis is warranted.
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 14-12-2020
DOI: 10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00087
Abstract: We report on a replicated single-case design study that measured the feasibility of an expressive vocabulary intervention for three Cantonese-speaking toddlers with small expressive lexicons relative to their age. The aim was to assess the cross-cultural and cross-linguistic feasibility of an intervention method developed for English-speaking children. A nonconcurrent multiple-baseline design was used with four baseline data points and 16 intervention sessions per participant. The intervention design incorporated implicit learning principles, high treatment dosage, and control of the phonological neighborhood density of the stimuli. The children (24–39 months) attended 7–9 weeks of twice weekly input-based treatment in which no explicit verbal production was required from the child. Each target word was provided as input a minimum of 64 times in at least two intervention sessions. Treatment feasibility was measured by comparison of how many of the target and control words the child produced across the intervention period, and parent-reported expressive vocabulary checklists were completed for comparison of pre- and postintervention child spoken vocabulary size. An omnibus effect size for the treatment effect of the number of target and control words produced across time was calculated using Kendall's Tau. There was a significant treatment effect for target words learned in intervention relative to baselines, and all children produced significantly more target than control words across the intervention period. The effect of phonological neighborhood density on expressive word production could not be evaluated because two of the three children learned all target words. The results provide cross-cultural evidence of the feasibility of a model of intervention that incorporated a high-dosage, cross-situational statistical learning paradigm to teach spoken word production to children with small expressive lexicons.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 10-03-2010
DOI: 10.1017/S0305000909009416
Abstract: To express object transfer, Cantonese-speakers use a ‘ditransitive’ ([V–R–T] or [V–T–R] where V=Verb, T=Theme, R=Recipient), or a more complex prepositional/serial-verb (P/SV) construction. Clausal elements in Cantonese datives can be optional (resulting in ‘full’ versus ‘non-full’ forms) or appear in variant orders (full non-canonical and full canonical). We report on usage of dative constructions with the word bei2 ‘to give’ in 86 parents and 53 three-year-old children during conversations. The parents used more P/SV than ditransitive bei2 -datives, and vice versa for the children. Both groups showed a similar usage pattern of optional elements and variant structures in their ditransitive and P/SV bei2 -datives. The roles of multiple construction types, optional elements and variant structures in children's learning of bei2 -dative constructions are described.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2007
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 29-07-2015
DOI: 10.3109/17549507.2015.1060525
Abstract: A developmental hierarchy of phonetic feature complexity has been proposed, suggesting that later emerging sounds have greater articulatory complexity than those learned earlier. The aim of this research was to explore this hierarchy in a relatively unexplored language, Icelandic. Twenty-eight typically-developing Icelandic-speaking children were tested at 2 and 3 years. Word-initial and word-medial phonemic inventories and a phonemic implicational hierarchy are described. The frequency of occurrence of Icelandic consonants in the speech of 2 and 3 year old children was, from most to least frequent, n, s, t, p, r, m, l, k, f, ʋ, j, ɵ, h, kʰ, c, [Formula: see text], ɰ, pʰ, tʰ, cʰ, ç, [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]. Consonant frequency was a strong predictor of consonant accuracy at 2 months (r(23) = -0.75), but the effect was weaker at 3 months (r(23) = -0.51). Acquisition of /c/, /[Formula: see text]/ and /l/ occurred earlier, relative to English, Swedish, Dutch and German. A frequency-bound practice effect on emerging consonants is proposed to account for the early emergence of /c/, /[Formula: see text]/ and /l/ in Icelandic.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1996
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-03-2012
DOI: 10.1111/J.1460-6984.2012.00149.X
Abstract: A trial parent-focused early intervention (PFEI) programme for children with delayed language development is reported in which current research evidence was translated and applied within the constraints of available of clinical resources. The programme, based at a primary school, was run by a speech-language pathologist with speech-language pathology students. To investigate the changes in child language development and parent and child interactions following attendance at the PFEI. Eighteen parents and their children attended six, weekly group sessions in which parents were provided with strategies to maximize language learning in everyday contexts. Pre- and post-programme assessments of vocabulary size and measures of parent-child interaction were collected. Parents and children significantly increased their communicative interactions from pre- to post-treatment. Children's expressive vocabulary size and language skills increased significantly. Large-effect sizes were observed. The positive outcomes of the intervention programme contribute to the evidence base of intervention strategies and forms of service delivery for children at risk of language delay.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 24-01-2014
DOI: 10.3109/17549507.2013.872296
Abstract: This study examined the relationship between reading, spelling, and the presence of otitis media (OM) and co-occurring hearing loss (HL) in metropolitan Indigenous Australian children, and compared their reading and spelling outcomes with those of their non-Indigenous peers. OM and HL may hinder language development and phonological awareness skills, but there is little empirical evidence to link OM/HL and literacy in this population. Eighty-six Indigenous and non-Indigenous children attending pre-primary, year one and year two at primary schools in the Perth metropolitan area participated in the study. The ear health of the participants was screened by Telethon Speech and Hearing Centre EarBus in 2011/2012. Participants' reading and spelling skills were tested with culturally modified sub-tests of the Queensland University Inventory of Literacy. Of the 46 Indigenous children, 18 presented with at least one episode of OM and one episode of HL. Results indicated that Indigenous participants had significantly poorer non-word and real word reading and spelling skills than their non-Indigenous peers. There was no significant difference between the groups of Indigenous participants with OM and HL and those with normal ear health on either measure. This research provides evidence to suggest that Indigenous children have ongoing literacy development difficulties and discusses the possibility of OM as one of many impacting factors.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2002
DOI: 10.1080/02699200210148385
Abstract: The phonetic inventories of 122 typically developing Cantonese-speaking children, aged from 0 to 4 , were examined in terms of feature distinctions. The applicability of Dinnsen. Chin, Elbert and Powell's implicational feature hierarchy to these data was investigated. Results show that modifications to the hierarchy are necessary for the Cantonese phonetic system. A revised hierarchy for Cantonese is proposed. Differences between this proposal and the original work are discussed. The implicational nature of the proposed hierarchy was also tested on longitudinal data from ten children (aged from 0 to 3 at the beginning of the study) over a 1 year period. The proposed hierarchy successfully predicted the route of sound change of these inventories. Implications for further research on feature development are discussed.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 06-2001
DOI: 10.1017/S0305000901004688
Abstract: This study investigated the interface of form and function in the acquisition of negation in Cantonese-speaking children. The data, from the Hong Kong Cantonese Child Language Corpus, were longitudinal spontaneous s les of eight children aged 1 to 3 . The main issues of the study were the sequence of emergence of negative markers mou 5 , m 4 and mei 6 and the acquisition trend of 11 semantic categories of negation in children's expressive language. The acquisition trend of the semantic categories matched Bloom's (1970, 1991a) finding that Non-existence preceded Rejection and Denial.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-1995
DOI: 10.3109/13682829509082530
Abstract: This study used electropalatographic and perceptual analysis to investigate the speech of two Cantonese children with repaired cleft palate. Some features of their speech, as identified from the perceptual analysis, have been previously reported as being typical of children with cleft palate. For ex le, fricatives and affricates were vulnerable to disruption, and obstruent sounds were judged by listeners to have posterior placement. However, some apparently language-specific characteristics were identified in the Cantonese-speaking children. First there was a relatively high incidence of initial consonant deletion, and for one subject /s/ and /f/ targets were produced as bilabial fricatives. EPG error patterns for target lingual obstruents were largely similar to those reported to occur in English- and Japanese-speaking children. In particular, broader and more posterior tongue-palate contact was observed, and intrasubject variability was noted. There was also evidence of simultaneous labial/velar and alveolar/velar constriction for labial and velar targets respectively. The clinical implications of the findings are discussed.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1999
Abstract: The substitution of [s] for word-initial aspirated targets was examined in a Cantonese-speaking pre-school child. Perceptual analysis showed that the child produced [ph] accurately, but substituted [s] for /t(h)/, /ts(h)/ and /k(h)/. Acoustic analysis revealed no subphonemic contrast between the target /s/, and the substituted [s] for /t(h)/, /ts(h)/ and /k(h)/. The unusual substitution of [s] for aspirated lingual targets, and the lack of a subphonemic contrast among [s] productions were described in terms of feature geometry. The target feature patterns of [-continuant, +spread] were produced as [+continuant, +spread], with maintenance of the default place feature (coronal). It is proposed that the child had immature motor control of the coordination of supralaryngeal and laryngeal movements. Examination of the child's productions of aspirated lingual targets at pre-, mid- and post-therapy revealed that compensatory articulation changed over time as the child learned to coordinate laryngeal and oral movements.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-1997
DOI: 10.1111/J.1460-6984.1997.TB01628.X
Abstract: The purpose of this investigation was to compare the ability of nurses and parents to detect speech and language disability. The methodology included development and validation of a parent questionnaire to detect speech and language disability in 398 3-year-old English-speaking children. The parent questionnaire and a standard developmental screen administered by child health nurses were compared with a gold standard (a speech and language assessment). International criteria for screening tools were applied. The tools were comparable in performance. A simple parent questionnaire, completed without professional assistance, was a viable alternative to professional screening. Parents' education and parity had no influence on their ability to detect language disorders. Although size of sibship had no association with the occurrence of speech and language disability, third-born children were more likely to have a speech and language disability than any other birth order.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-05-2010
DOI: 10.3109/13682820903094737
Abstract: School-aged children with persisting speech sound disorders (SSDs) may show little improvement in speech accuracy following phonological or articulation therapy. To determine the effects of establishing consonant production in facilitative vowel contexts for a 7-year-old boy (CD) with persisting post-alveolar fronting. CD had received phonological awareness therapy and traditional articulation therapy as part of a community caseload. However, his post-alveolar fronting showed resistance to therapy. CD received in idual therapy for nine 45-55-min sessions. A checklist of quality indicators for single-subject research was used to explore the likelihood that a community clinic could meet quality indicators. Fifteen test words in each of target, generalization and control sets were measured at five times pre-, during and post-therapy. A trend analysis was used to measure the statistical significance of the results and to demonstrate the efficacy of therapy. Therapy was successful. Gains on treatment and generalization test items were rapid and significantly higher than gains on control test items. Only three of 21 single-subject research quality indicators were not met in this research. Targeting facilitative vowel contexts was successful for this 7-year-old boy with persisting post-alveolar fronting which had been resistant to other therapy techniques. Speech and language therapists are encouraged to ensure that quality indicators for single-subject interventions are built into regular practice.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 02-2001
DOI: 10.1017/S0305000900004645
Abstract: Descriptions of the development of prosodic and segmental tiers of children's phonological systems have been derived from investigations of the development of English. This paper provides a preliminary description of phonological tier development in Cantonese-speaking children. Eight children, (two each at 1 , 2 , 3 , and 4 years) named 95 pictures. The data were analysed for word, syllable, onset-rime, skeletal, and segmental tiers. The results suggested a developmental order in the acquisition of hierarchical features. Decreasing order of accuracy of the tiers was word = syllable > onset-rime = skeletal > segmental. A model of feature geometry was adopted to describe the acquisition of features. An interesting finding is the way the laryngeal feature (aspiration) was combined with place contrasts one at a time rather than all at once.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-10-2000
DOI: 10.1080/136828200750001278
Abstract: Recent studies of lexical ersity in English-speaking children with specific language impairment (ESLI) have produced conflicting results. Differences between SLI and age-matched (AM) groups on verb types, and overall types have been reported, as have differences between SLI and language-matched (LM) groups on verb types and/or verb tokens, and noun types and noun tokens. At the same time there have been other claims that there is no difference between SLI and LM groups in terms of lexical ersity. This comparison of the lexical ersity of Cantonese-speaking children with SLI (CSLI) and their language-matched peers controlled the length of the s les and the number of tokens as the basis for comparison. There was no difference between the groups in use of verb tokens or types, but there were significant differences in noun tokens and types and 'other' open class tokens and types. Although there was no difference between the groups in the use of a specific grammatical marker (aspect markers), the way in which the CSLI children deployed these markers was severely restricted in comparison with their LM peers. A limited capacity model of language production is invoked to explain the findings.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 06-03-2006
DOI: 10.1017/S0142716406060280
Abstract: The production of passive sentences by children with specific language impairment (SLI) was studied in two languages, English and Cantonese. In both languages, the word order required for passive sentences differs from the word order used for active sentences. However, English and Cantonese passive sentences are quite different in other respects. We found that English-speaking children with SLI were less proficient than both same-age and younger typically developing peers in the use of passives, although difficulty could not be attributed to word order or a reliance on active sentences. Cantonese-speaking children with SLI proved less capable than same-age peers in their use of passive sentences but at least as proficient as younger peers. The implications of these cross-linguistic differences are discussed.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2002
DOI: 10.1080/02699200110101747
Abstract: Longitudinal data from ten phonologically disordered Cantonese-speaking boys were analysed for distinctive features (manner and place). The children labelled 95 pictures, attempting each initial Cantonese segment at least five times. The applicability of Dinnsen et al.'s implicational hierarchy to this data was examined. Categorization of each child's system according to an implicational hierarchy was successful for nine of the ten children when phonetic inventories were considered. In addition, a phonemic inventory based on Dinnsen et al.'s phonetic inventory captured the system of phonological contrasts used by eight of the ten children. The patterns of the children who did not match the hierarchy were considered deviant rather than delayed. The ability of the hierarchy to predict the route of development in this group of children was also examined. The hierarchies (both phonetic and phonemic) successfully predicted the route of change in these cases. Implications for the use of an implicational hierarchy in phonological assessment and treatment are discussed. Further research on feature-based phonological development, in both typically-developing and disordered phonological systems is required.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 25-09-2014
DOI: 10.1017/S030500091300010X
Abstract: According to the Extended Statistical Learning account (ExSL Stokes, Kern & dos Santos, 2012) late talkers (LTs) continue to use neighborhood density (ND) as a cue for word learning when their peers no longer use a density learning mechanism. In the current article, LTs expressive ( active ) lexicon ND values differed from those of their age-matched, but not language-matched, TD peers, a finding that provided support for the ExSL account. Stokes (2010) claimed that LTs had difficulty abstracting sparse words, but not dense, from the ambient language. If true, then LTs' receptive ( passive ), as well as active lexicons should be comprised of words of high ND. However, in the current research only active lexicons were of high ND. LTs' expressive lexicons may be small not because of an abstraction deficit, but because they are unable to develop sufficiently strong phonological representations to support word production.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-09-2010
DOI: 10.3109/13682820903277951
Abstract: Children with word-finding difficulties manifest a high frequency of word-finding characteristics in narrative, yet word-finding interventions have concentrated on single-word treatments and outcome measures. This study measured the effectiveness of a narrative-based intervention in improving single-word picture-naming and word-finding characteristics in narrative in a case study. A case study, quasi-experimental design was employed. The participant was tested on picture naming and spoken word to picture matching on control and treatment words at pre-, mid-, and post-therapy and an 8-month maintenance point. Narrative s les at pre- and post-therapy were analysed for word-finding characteristics and language production. A narrative-based language intervention for word-finding difficulties (NBLI-WF) was carried out for eight sessions, over 3 weeks. The data were subjected to a repeated-measures trend analysis for dichotomous data. Significant improvement occurred for naming accuracy of treatment, but not for control words. The pattern of word-finding characteristics in narrative changed, but the frequency did not reduce. NBLI-WF was effective in improving naming accuracy in this single case, but there were limitations to the research. Further research is required to assess the changes that may occur in language production and word-finding characteristics in narrative. Community clinicians are encouraged to refine clinical practice to ensure clinical research meets quality indicators.
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 04-2006
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2006/019)
Abstract: Recent research suggests that nonword repetition (NWR) and sentence repetition (SR) tasks can be used to discriminate between children with SLI and their typically developing age-matched (TDAM) and younger (TDY) peers. Fourteen Cantonese-speaking children with SLI and 30 of their TDAM and TDY peers were compared on NWR and SR tasks. NWR of IN nonwords (CV combinations attested in the language) and OUT nonwords (CV combinations unattested in the language) were compared. SR performance was compared using 4 different scoring methods. The SLI group did not score significantly lower than the TDAM group on the test of NWR (overall results were TDAM = SLI TDY). There were nonsignificant group differences on IN syllables but not on OUT syllables. The results do not suggest a limitation in phonological working memory in Cantonese-speaking children with SLI. The SR task discriminated between children and their TDAM peers but not between children with SLI and their TDY peers matched for mean length of utterance. SR but not NWR discriminates between children with SLI and their TDAM peers. Poorer NWR for English-speaking children with SLI might be attributable to weaker use of the redintegration strategy in word repetition. Further cross-linguistic investigations of processing strategies are required.
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 06-2005
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2005/040)
Abstract: The notion of a universal pattern of phonological development, rooted in basic physiological constraints, is controversial, with some researchers arguing for a strong environmental (ambient language) influence on phonological development or an interaction of both physiological constraints and ambient language effects. This research examines the relative value of articulatory complexity, ambient frequency, and functional load as predictors of consonant development in children. Three languages are investigated: Cantonese, American English, and Dutch. Regression analyses revealed that functional load accounted for 55% of the variance in age of emergence of consonants in 7 English-speaking children (8–25 months), while frequency of consonants in the ambient language accounted for 63% of the variance in age of emergence of consonants in 51 Cantonese-speaking children (15–30 months). Articulatory complexity accounted for 40% of the accuracy of production of consonants in 40 English-speaking children (25 months), and frequency accounted for 43% of the variance in accuracy of production of consonants in 5 Dutch-speaking children (24 months). Given cross-linguistic differences, further research is required.
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 12-2002
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2002/096)
Abstract: This study examined the interaction of ambient frequency and feature complexity in the diphthong errors produced by Cantonese-speaking children with phonological disorders. A total of 611 diphthongs produced by 13 Cantonese-speaking children with speech disorders were subjected to perceptual analysis. The percentage accuracy of production and error patterns was examined. Perceptual analysis showed that /i/ and /ui/ were most frequently in error, whereas /ei/, /ou/, and /u/ were least frequently in error. Diphthong errors (usually diphthong reduction) arise as a function of both ambient frequency and feature complexity. The combination of ambient frequency and feature complexity yields a complexity metric reflecting accuracy of production. Treatment guidelines include consideration of three basic factors: ambient frequency, feature complexity, and error patterns.
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 12-2004
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2004/107)
Abstract: English-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) appear to have special difficulty in the use of who -object questions (e.g., Who is the girl chasing? ). It has been argued that problems related to grammatical movement may be responsible for this difficulty. However, it is also possible that the lower frequency of who -object questions relative to who -subject questions also plays a role. In this study, the use of who -object and who -subject questions by children with SLI who were acquiring Cantonese as their 1st language was examined. In Cantonese, the surface form of who -object questions (e.g., hung4zai2 sek3 bin1go3? [Bear kiss who?]) reflects the same subject, verb, object order typically used for declarative sentences, and a movement account provides no basis for expecting special difficulties with such questions. As in English, however, Cantonese who -object questions occur less frequently than do who -subject questions. A comparison of preschoolers with SLI, typically developing same-age peers, and younger, typically developing peers revealed that the children with SLI were less accurate in using who -object questions than either of the other participant groups yet showed no differences from these groups in the use of who -subject questions (e.g., bin1go3 sek3 zyu1zyu1? [Who kiss Piglet?]). The implications of these findings for current accounts of SLI are discussed, and the idea that input frequency and animacy may play a larger role than is often assumed is suggested.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 07-2008
DOI: 10.1017/S014271640808020X
Abstract: Understanding how words are created is potentially a key component to being able to learn and understand new vocabulary words. However, research on morphological awareness is relatively rare. In this study, over 660 preschool-aged children from three language groups (Cantonese, Mandarin, and Korean speakers) in which compounding morphology is highly prevalent were tested on their abilities to manipulate familiar morphemes to create novel compound words as well as on a variety of early language and reasoning measures twice over the span of 9 months to 1 year. With Time 1 vocabulary knowledge, phonological processing, and reasoning skills controlled, morphological awareness predicted unique variance in Time 2 vocabulary knowledge across languages. Across languages, vocabulary knowledge also predicted unique variance in subsequent morphological awareness, with Time 1 morphological awareness controlled. Findings underscore the bidirectional bootstrapping of morphological awareness and vocabulary acquisition for languages in which lexical compounding is prominent, and suggest that morphological awareness may be practically important in predicting and fostering children's early vocabulary learning.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-1995
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 10-2004
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2004/086)
Abstract: Little is known about language development in school-age children in Asian countries. This research reports on 3 measures of language development in 100 Cantonese-speaking children age 5 to 9 years. Word scores, structure scores, and the mean length of communication units (MLCU) were derived from a story-retelling task. The structure score was significantly different for all, except the 8-and 9-year-old groups. The word score and MLCU were significantly different in groups separated by 2 or more years of age. All 3 measures were strongly and significantly correlated with age. The structure score and word score accounted for 64% and 5% of the variance in age, respectively. The order of development of the 6 grammatical structures (e.g., subordinate clauses) included in this study is also reported.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 1996
DOI: 10.3109/13682829609033151
Abstract: The subjects were seven Cantonese-speaking children with repaired cleft palate, aged between 3 and 10 . Speech s les were obtained by use of two word lists. Error patterns were described by use of a detailed analysis based on perceptual judgements. A 'confusion matrix' was constructed for each subject to illustrate the relative frequency of error type. The results showed high within-subject and across-subject variability. The data partially support findings from other languages, for ex le, showing posterior placement for alveolar targets. However, some language-specific errors were identified, such as initial consonant deletion. Four possible explanations for the data are discussed.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 25-09-2014
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 16-05-2013
Abstract: This study investigated the noun definitions given by Cantonese speakers at different ages. Definitional responses on six concrete nouns from 1075 children aged 4 to 12 and 15 adults were analyzed with reference to the semantic content and the syntactic form. Results showed that conventional definitions produced by Cantonese adult speakers were realized with specific superordinates and more perceptual than functional attributes. The content was carried by a syntactic frame, “NP 1 is NP 2 ”, where relative clause was not the predominant form of NP 2 as in the English definition forms. Core attributes signifying the defining properties increased significantly with age while non-core attributes were observed relatively evenly throughout all groups. Preschoolers tended to drop the sentential-subject (i.e., NP 1 ) and the copula is, and produce more functional than perceptual attributes. By Primary-2 (P2) (about 7 ), the taxonomic relation was coded with the frame of “NP 1 is NP 2 ”. Beginning at P4 (about 9 ), children included a superordinate but the specificity of the adult-like superordinate was not achieved even by P6 (about 11 ). In general, developmental trends accorded with the trends observed in other languages, but typological features played a role in framing the development of the syntactic form.
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 06-2010
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2009/08-0254)
Abstract: To document the lexical characteristics of neighborhood density (ND) and word frequency (WF) in the lexicons of a large s le of English-speaking toddlers. Parents of 222 British-English–speaking children aged 27(±3) months completed a British adaptation of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences (MCDI Klee & Harrison, 2001). Child words were coded for ND and WF, and the relationships among vocabulary, ND, and WF were examined. A cut-point of −1 SD below the mean on the MCDI classified children into one of two groups: low or high vocabulary size. Group differences on ND and WF were examined using nonparametric statistics. In a hierarchical regression, ND and WF accounted for 47% and 14% of unique variance in MCDI scores, respectively. Low-vocabulary children scored significantly higher on ND and significantly lower on WF than did high-vocabulary children, but there was more variability in ND and WF for children at the lowest points of the vocabulary continuum. Children at the lowest points of a continuum of vocabulary size may be extracting statistical properties of the input language in a manner quite different from their more able age peers.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2004
DOI: 10.1080/02699200410001703655
Abstract: Data from the Cantonese Communicative Development Inventory (CCDI) is used to review the phonological preferences of younger (16-22 months) and older (23-30 month) groups of children in the lexical items they are reported to be able to say. Analogous results to those found for English emerge from the Cantonese data: the younger group display selectivity in the initial consonants of words they say, and their preferences accord with developmental tendencies in Cantonese phonology. From children whose scores fell below the tenth percentile of the CCDI, a subset were followed up 1 year later and their linguistic progress evaluated. Only a proportion of these children were below still below the tenth percentile for vocabulary at follow-up. Their lexical immaturities were accompanied by limited phonetic abilities. The implications of the findings are discussed.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 24-05-2012
DOI: 10.1017/S0305000911000031
Abstract: Stokes (2010) compared the lexicons of English-speaking late talkers (LT) with those of their typically developing (TD) peers on neighborhood density (ND) and word frequency (WF) characteristics and suggested that LTs employed learning strategies that differed from those of their TD peers. This research sought to explore the cross-linguistic validity of this conclusion. The lexicons (production, not recognition) of 208 French-speaking two-year-old children were coded for ND and WF. Regression revealed that ND and WF together predicted 62% of the variance in vocabulary size, with ND and WF uniquely accounting for 53% and 9% of that variance respectively. Epiphenomenal findings were ruled out by comparison of simulated data sets with the actual data. A generalized Mann–Whitney test showed that children with small vocabularies had significantly higher ND values and significantly lower WF values than children with large vocabularies. An extended statistical learning theory is proposed to account for the findings.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 17-02-2017
DOI: 10.1017/S0305000916000052
Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the effect of neighbourhood density (ND) on vocabulary size in a computational model of vocabulary development. A word has a high ND if there are many words phonologically similar to it. High ND words are more easily learned by infants of all abilities (e.g. Storkel, 2009 Stokes, 2014). We present a neural network model that learns general phonotactic patterns in the exposure language, as well as specific word forms and, crucially, mappings between word meanings and word forms. The network is faster at learning frequent words, and words containing high-probability phoneme sequences, as human word learners are, but, independently of this, the network is also faster at learning words with high ND, and, when its capacity is reduced, it learns high ND words in preference to other words, similarly to late talkers. We analyze the model and propose a novel explanation of the ND effect, in which word meanings play an important role in generating word-specific biases on general phonological trajectories. This explanation leads to a new prediction about the origin of the ND effect in infants.
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 07-2013
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Stephanie Fay Stokes.