SLI WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF DIALECT DIVERSITY

Louisiana State Univ A&M Col Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge LA

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Abstract

The purpose of this project is to extend work in the area of SLI to children who speak dialectal variations of English. As discussed by Leonard (1996), Crago and Allen (1996) and others, understanding the ways in which the grammatical deficits of SLI surface across a wide range of languages is critical for further refinement of the SLI phenotype and for testing theories of grammatical acquisition and breakdown. What is equally needed is an understanding of the clinical markers of SLI in the context of dialect diversity. Without such knowledge, generalization of the SLI profile to a wide range of individuals within any given community is questionable. To this end, the specific aims of this project are to: 1. examine young children's use of dialect in one regional area, 2. examine the impact of these structures on standard measures of spontaneous language production, and 3. determine whether current characterization of SLI is relevant in the context of dialect diversity. Findings will contribute to the development of a large scale investigation of the clinical markers of SLI among children from diverse English-speaking environments. NIDCD has formally recognized the need for such research through a recent RFP that focuses on the identification and treatment of childhood language impairment in multicultural populations.