Linguistics

 Este trabalho apresenta um método de etiquetagem de papéis semânticos em predicações nominalizadas. O método evita o problema da não disponibilidade de recursos computacionais robustos para o português, explorando a correspondência sistemática entre as estruturas argumentais de verbos e das nominalizações correspondentes, e utilizando a Web como corpus para inferir probabilisticamente a delimitação dos argumentos e suas relações gramaticais dentro da estrutura sintática do verbo base.

Using the single-word self-paced reading task, three experiments investigated parsing of temporarily ambiguous sentences containing complement verbs. The verbs differed in the likelihood with which they are typically followed by a direct object (NP-bias verbs) or a clausal complement (clausal-bias verbs). When the potential direct object was short, readers were "garden-pathed" after NP-bias verbs, but not after clausal-bias verbs. The pragmatic plausibility of the potential direct object also only influenced responses in sentences containing NP-bias verbs. The results suggest that lexical expectations may determine the initial structural assignment made by the reader in these sentences. It was argued that models of parsing should incorporate a role for lexical expectations at an early stage of syntactic decision-making.

The aim of the present study was to compare the processing of lexical stress across modalities in native speakers of English. We utilised the same disyllabic stimuli in both visual and auditory grammatical classification. Participants were asked to classify each individually presented word as being either a noun or a verb as quickly and accurately as possible. In line with previous findings ), the results of our visual task showed that typically stressed words (trochaic nouns and iambic verbs) elicited advantaged processing over atypically stressed words (iambic nouns and trochaic verbs). In contrast, the results of our auditory task showed no overall effect of stress typicality. This finding is also in line with previous research . Interestingly, however, a median split analysis showed that participants with high error rates did exhibit a significant effect of stress typicality during auditory grammatical classification.

This research investigated the speech, language, and functional auditory outcomes of 119 3-year-old children with hearing loss and additional disabilities. Outcomes were evaluated using direct assessment and caregiver report. Multiple regressions revealed that type of additional disability and level of maternal education were significant predictors of language outcomes. Poorer outcomes were achieved in a combined group of children with autism, cerebral palsy, and/or developmental delay (DD) (Group A), compared with children with vision or speech output impairments, syndromes not entailing DD, or medical disorders (Group B). Better outcomes were associated with higher levels of maternal education. The association between better language outcomes and earlier cochlear implant switch-on approached significance. Further regression analyses were conducted separately for children with different types of additional disabilities. Level of maternal education was the only significant predictor of outcomes for Group A children, whereas degree of hearing loss was the strongest predictor for children in Group B. The findings highlight the variable impact that different types of additional disabilities can have on language development in children with hearing loss.

Universal newborn hearing screening has been implemented to detect permanent childhood hearing loss (PCHL) early, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes through early treatment. However, there is disagreement between studies on the size of this benefit and in some cases whether it is significantly different from 0. There have been no studies of sufficient size in which researchers have determined reliably whether the effect varies with degree of PCHL. We aimed to explore how intervention timing influences 5-year language in children with PCHL. METHODS: Via a prospective study of 350 children, we used standard multiple regression analyses to investigate the effect of age at intervention or hearing screening on language outcomes after allowing for the effects of nonverbal IQ, degree of PCHL, sex, birth weight, maternal education, additional disabilities, and communication mode. RESULTS: The benefit of early intervention for language development increased as hearing loss increased. Children whose amplification started at age 24 months had poorer language than those whose amplification started at 3 months. The difference was larger for 70-dB HL (−11.8 score points; 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: −18.7 to −4.8) than for 50-dB HL (−6.8; 95% CI: −10.8 to −2.8). Children who received cochlear implants at 24 months had poorer language than those implanted at 6 months (−21.4; 95% CI: −33.8 to −9.0). There was no significant effect of screening on outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Early intervention improves language outcomes, thereby lending support to streamlining clinical pathways to ensure early amplification and cochlear implantation after diagnosis.

This study examined the extent to which cognitive ability at 5 years of age predicted language development from 5 to 9 years of age in a population-based sample of children with hearing loss who participated in the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment (LOCHI) study. The developmental outcomes of 81 children with hearing loss were evaluated at 5 and 9 years of age. Hearing loss ranged from mild to severe degrees, and all participants used hearing aids. They all used spoken language as the primary mode of communication and education. Nine-year-old language was assessed using the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4th edition (CELF-4), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4th edition (PPVT-4), and the Expressive Vocabulary Test-2nd edition (EVT-2). Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the extent to which children's scores on these standardized assessments were predicted by their cognitive ability (non-verbal IQ and verbal working memory) measured at 5 years of age. The influence of early language scores at 5 years and a range of demographic characteristics on language scores at 9 years of age was evaluated. We found that 5-year-old digit span score was a significant predictor of receptive and expressive language, but not receptive or expressive vocabulary, at 9 years of age. Also, 5-year-old non-word repetition test score was a significant predictor of only expressive language and vocabulary, but not receptive language or vocabulary at 9 years of age. After allowing for the effects of non-verbal IQ and 5-year-old receptive vocabulary, early digit span score (but not non-word repetition score) was a significant predictor of expressive and receptive language scores at 9 years of age. The findings shed light on the unique role of early verbal working memory in predicting the development of receptive and expressive language skills and vocabulary skills in children who use hearing aids.

Objectives: To document the auditory processing, visual attention, digit memory, phonological processing, and receptive language abilities of individual children with identified word reading difficulties. Design: Twenty-five children with word reading difficulties and 28 control children with good word reading skills participated. All children were aged between 8 and 11 years, with normal hearing sensitivity and typical non-verbal intelligence. Both groups of children completed a test battery designed to assess their auditory processing, visual attention, digit memory, phonological processing, and receptive language. Results: When compared to children who were good readers, children with word reading difficulties obtained significantly lower average scores on tests of auditory processing, including the frequency pattern test, gaps in noise, frequency discrimination, Dichotic Digit difference Test, and Listening in Spatialized Noise. The two groups did not differ on the discrimination measures of sinusoidal amplitude modulation or iterated rippled noise. The results from children with word reading difficulties showed that 5 children (20%) had comorbid deficits in auditory processing, visual attention, and backward digit memory; whereas 12 children (48%) had comorbid auditory processing and visual attention deficits only, and 2 children (8%) had comorbid deficits in auditory processing and digit memory; the remaining children had only auditory processing, visual attention, or digit memory deficits. Conclusion: The current study highlights the general coexistence of auditory processing, memory, and visual attention deficits in children with word reading difficulties. It is also noteworthy, however, that only one fifth of the current cohort had deficits across all measured tasks. Hence, our results also show the significant individual variability inherent in children with word reading difficulties.