City Research Online

Nonword Repetition in Children With Developmental Language Disorder: Revisiting the Case of Cantonese

Fu, N. C., Chen, S., Polišenská, K. ORCID: 0000-0001-7405-6689 , Chan, A., Kan, R. & Chiat, S. ORCID: 0000-0002-8981-8153 (2024). Nonword Repetition in Children With Developmental Language Disorder: Revisiting the Case of Cantonese. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 67(6), pp. 1772-1784. doi: 10.1044/2024_jslhr-22-00397

Abstract

Purpose: Nonword repetition (NWR) has been described as a clinical marker of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), as NWR tasks consistently discriminate between DLD and typical development (TD) cross-linguistically, with Cantonese the only reported exception (Stokes et al., 2006). This study re-examines whether NWR is able to generate TD/DLD group differences in Cantonese-speaking children, by reporting on a novel set of NWR stimuli which take into account factors known to affect NWR performance and group differentiation, including lexicality, sub-lexicality, length and syllable complexity.

Method: Sixteen Cantonese-speaking children with DLD and sixteen age-matched, TD children repeated two sets of High-Lexicality nonwords, where all constituent syllables are morphemic in Cantonese but meaningless when combined; and one set of Low-Lexicality nonwords, where all constituent syllables are non-morphemic. Low-Lexicality nonwords were further classified on sub-lexicality, in terms of consonant-vowel (CV) combination attestedness (whether or not CV combinations in nonword syllables occur in real Cantonese words).

Results: Children with DLD scored significantly below their TD peers. Effect sizes showed that High-Lexicality nonwords and nonword syllables with attested CV combinations offered the greatest TD/DLD group differentiation. Nonword length and syllable complexity did not affect TD/DLD group differentiation.

Conclusions: NWR can capture TD/DLD group differences in Cantonese-speaking children. Lexicality and sub-lexicality effects must be considered in designing NWR stimuli for TD/DLD group differentiation. Future studies should replicate the present study on a larger sample size, a younger population, and examine diagnostic accuracy of this NWR test.

Publication Type: Article
Additional Information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publisher Keywords: Nonword Repetition; Developmental Language Disorder; Cantonese Chinese
Subjects: R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ101 Child Health. Child health services
Departments: School of Health & Psychological Sciences
School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Language & Communication Science
SWORD Depositor:
[thumbnail of fu-et-al-2024-nonword-repetition-in-children-with-developmental-language-disorder-revisiting-the-case-of-cantonese.pdf]
Preview
Text - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution International Public License 4.0.

Download (223kB) | Preview
[thumbnail of NWR in Cantonese DLD_JSLHR_Final accepted version_with tables.pdf]
Preview
Text - Accepted Version
Download (597kB) | Preview

Export

Add to AnyAdd to TwitterAdd to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to PinterestAdd to Email

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics

Actions (login required)

Admin Login Admin Login