The acquisition of some dimensional adjectives by both normal and language-impaired children

THE ACQUISITION OF SOME DIMENSIONAL ADJECTIVES BY BOTH NORMAL AND LANGUAGE-IMPAIRED CHILDREN SUSAN GAIL WRIGHT, B . A . ( S P . & H . THERAPY) (WITWATERSRAND) Psychological and Guidance Services, Transvaal Education Department, Johannesburg North-West, Johannesburg. SUMMARY The main aim of this study was to assess various predictions made by H. and E. Clark with respect to the acquisition of certain dimensional adjectives. In addition, the performance of children with impaired language skills was compared with that of children with normally developing language. Eighteen subjects in the age range 3,3 to 4 years were divided into two groups; those with adequate language (C group) and those with impaired language (E group). The dimensional adjective pairs of "length", "tallness" and "width" were investigated on comprehension tasks of increasing dimensionality. A qualitative analysis of the data, for both C and Ε groups, revealed findings supporting the predictions concerning the order of dimensional adjective acquisition in terms of semantic complexity, the acquisition of the unmarked pair member before the marked member, and the acquisition of the concept of polarity before dimensionality. A quantitative analysis of the data revealed significant differences between the C and Ε groups on a few tasks only. Implications for the researcher and speech therapist are considered. Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2012) OPSOMMING Die hoofdoel van hierdie studie was om die verskillende voorspellings van H. Clark en E. Clark, met betrekking tot die verwering van sekere dimensionele byvoeglike naamwoorde, te ondersoek. Daarbenewens is die prestasie van kinders met ontoereikende taalvermoens vergelyk met di6 van kinders met normaalontwikkelende taal. Agtien proefpersone, vanaf 3,3 tot 4 jaar, was verdeel in twee groepe; di6 met voldoende taal (groep C) en di6 met ontoereikende taal (groep E). Die pare dimensionele byvoeglike naamwoorde van "lengte" en "breedte" is ondersoek m.v. begripstoetse van toenemende dimensionaliteit. 'n Kwalitatiewe analise van die gegewens vir albei groepe, het voorspellings aangaande die verwerings volgorde van dimensionele byvoeglike naamwoorde, gebaseer op semantiese ingewikkeldheid, ondersteun — naamlik, die verwerwirig van die ongemerkte deel van die paar voor die gemerkte lid en van die begrip van polariteit v66r dimensionaliteit. 'n Kwantitatiewe analise van die gegewens het betekenisvolle verskille tussen groep C en Ε op slegs 'n paar take aangedui. Die implikasies vir die navorser en spraakterapeut is bespreek. The relationship between cognition and language has long been a topic of discussion and presents a controversial area of study. The importance of a conceptual basis for language development is particularly evident when reviewing recent literature concerning the early acquisition of language. 4 Within this field, attempts have been made to investigate the nature of the acquisition of dimensional adjectives. 2 ' 1 3 As before, results have revealed varying degrees of disagreement and an integrated overview of this subdivision has yet to be achieved. The present study was undertaken with a view to researching various proposals put forward by the existing theories. Die Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Kommunikasieafwykings, Vol. 28, 1981 128 Susan Wright Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2012) "Most of language is composed of relational terms" 1 1 of which dimensional adjectives form a sub-set. H. Clark, 7 · 8 · 9 in researching the progression and nature of the acquisition of spatial and temporal expressions, has provided a theoretical framework which is widely discussed in the literature. 12 · 1 7 His hypotheses generally appear to be considered noteworthy and comprehensive, although perhaps not fully explanatory. H. Clark 9 bases the evidence for this thesis on the "strong correspondence between the properties of spatial terms and the properties of man's innate perceptual apparatus". He postulates the existence of a perceptual space, or P-space, and a linguistic space, or L-space; thus supporting the notion of a connection between cognition and language. The properties of L-space are predicted to be identical to those of P-space; thus forming his correlation hypothesis. 9 Biological and physical environments place constraints on the way in which objects may be described in space. 9 These constraints are determined by P-space properties, which make varying demands on man's perceptions. An area which is easily perceptible may be considered a "positive" perceptual direction as opposed to a "negative" one. Similarly, linguistic forms may differ in complexity;, the more complex term is "marked" with respect to the less complex term. The "positive" or "unmarked" term may be comprehended more easily than the "negative" or "marked" term. 9 The complexity hypothesis is inherent in this proposal. Dimensional adjectives are divided into adjective pairs defining the dimensions of size, length, distance, tallness, height, depth, width, breadth, and thickness. 8 These pairs comprise big-small, long-short, far -near, tall-short, high-low, deep-shallow, wide-narrow, broadnarrow, and thick-thin. In terms of the "markedness" theory, 9 the first member of each pair is "unmarked" and the second "marked". This theory is further supported by E. Clark 5 · 6 in her advancement of the Semantic Feature Hypothesis (SFH). SFH predicts that the child does not randomly decide which of the two meanings to attribute to the antonym pair, but rather operates systematically by selecting the member of the pair which is linguistically simpler or "unmarked" before he acquires the "marked" term. To date, research findings concerning "markedness" have been contradictory. 2 · u · 1 3 The notion of "markedness" is prominent in another aspect of H. Clark's theory concerning the sequence of acquisition/of the dimensional adjective pairs. He proposes that the pairs differ in their conditions of application according to the nature of their dimensionality. 9 The fewer dimensions an adjective presupposes, the less complex the adjective will be, and therefore the less "marked". Adjective pairs involving only one dimension will be acquired before those involving two or three dimensions. 9 Other authorities have found support for this prediction. 1 · 3 H. Clark 8 therefore proposes that the intrinsic properties of the The South African Journal of Communication Disorders, Vol. 28,1981 Acquisition of Dimensional Adjectives 129 Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2012) antonym pairs could affect their sequence of acquisition. He suggests that the child first uses the terms in a nominal, non-comparative sense only. Here the appropriate dimension is indicated disregarding polarity; for example, both "long" and "short" mean "having length". The child gradually begin (...truncated)