An index of syntactic development for Cantonese-Chinese preschool children

Abstract

This research study aimed to develop an index of syntactic development for Cantonese-speaking children. Language samples taken from 14 normal children aged from 4;1 to 5;0, 16 normal children aged from 5;1 to 6;5 and 15 SLI children aged from 5;1 to 6;4 were analyzed and credited according to the framework developed. Normal children aged from 4;1 to 5;0 performed poorer on the index than those aged from 5;1 to 6;5 with the same clinical status. Children with language difficulty performed poorer than their normal age peers on the index as well. The index was validated against MLU and the two indices moderately correlated with each other. A linear combination of age, D and the index was entered into discriminant analysis, yielding a classification accuracy of 86.7% of all the children. The index was found to be a potentially useful clinical marker of SLI yet replication is needed to confirm the findings. Further modification of the index was discussed. The age and language growth sensitivity of MLU was discussed as well.