Towards the identification of linguistic characteristics of specific language impairment in Persian
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Abstract
Studies on specific language impairment (SLI) have identified specific aspects of language as particularly vulnerable. However, a picture of relative strengths and weaknesses characterizing SLI in Persian has not been established. This dissertation aims at the identification of linguistic characteristics of SLI in Persian-speaking children. It focuses on language abilities at 2 levels: at one level it explores areas of difficulty at higher-level component of language such as narratives (i.e., first mentions, story grammar) and at the other level, it examines the difficulties within a lower-level component of language such as morphosyntax (i.e case marking, object clitics). Elicited speech samples were collected from 9 Persian-speaking children with SLI as well as 16 TD children matched on age. Children with SLI scored lower than age-matched children on all of these measures. These findings are consistent with accounts that assume processing limitation in children with SLI, such as the morphological richness hypothesis.