Title

Investigating the effects of syllable complexity in Russian-speaking children with SLI.

Authors

Darya Kavitskaya, Yale University
Maria Babyonyshev
Theodore Walls
Elena Grigorenko

Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

1-1-2011

Abstract

This study examined the effect of number of syllables and syllable structure on repetition of pseudo-words by Russian-speaking children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and typically developing (TD) children. One hundred and forty-four pseudo-words, varying in length and syllable complexity, were presented to two groups of children: 15 children with SLI, age range 4 ; 0 to 8 ; 8, and 15 TD children matched in age to the SLI group. The number of errors in the repetition of pseudo-words was analyzed in terms of the number of syllables and syllable complexity. The results demonstrated that children with SLI have deficits in working memory capacity. In addition to the pseudo-word length, the repetition performance was affected by syllable structure complexity.

Publication Title, e.g., Journal

Journal of child language

Volume

38

Issue

5

Citation/Publisher Attribution

Kavitskaya, Darya, Maria Babyonyshev, Theodore Walls, and Elena Grigorenko. "Investigating the effects of syllable complexity in Russian-speaking children with SLI.." Journal of child language 38, 5 (2011): 979-998. doi: 10.1017/S0305000910000413.