Specific Language Impairments in Children: Phonology, Semantics, and the English Past Tense

Author(s): Marc F. Joanisse

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Aug., 2004), pp. 156-160
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CURRENT DIRECTIONS

Specific
in

Language

SCIENCE

Impairments

Children
and the English

Semantics,

Phonology,

Past Tense

F. Joanisse

Marc

of Western Ontario,

University

of specific
on whether
this

children

turn

specific

impairment
issue parallels

This

roscience
more

and

differently.
so SLI could
theory

whether

irregular

forms

Children

with

have

studies

data

nism

perceptual

as

in SLI
this

for

been

has

theory

of past-tense

and
deficit,
to account

suited

to

that

for

these

single

mecha

Eng

that encodes

sleep-slept)
-ed

adding
rule-based
alone

also

to the present

a number

of

with

the rule

that

tense.

because

approach

are sufficient

has

Irregular
they

call

forms

irregular
the past
forms

tense

(take-took,
is formed

are problematic

into question

by
to a

rules

whether

holds

case

from "building

hands,

(bake-d,

talk-ing).

morphology
a rule
mechanisms:

an associative

and
case

by

of gram

the basis

that past-tense

of neural

types
forms

regular

exceptions
some interest

articulation,

speech
vasive

concerns
in cognitive
neuroscience
the neural
question
key
mechanism
humans
the rules
encode
of language.
The
by which
an interesting
case of rulelike
past tense represents
processes:
English
to be
appear
patterns
(bake-baked,
Although
regular
step-stepped)

that conflict

to be

are created

(Pinker,

memory
1991).

sys

Recently,

been
in studying
this dual-mechanism
theory
the perspective
of developmental
Of par
disorders.
language
are past-tense
interest
ticular
in children
with
lan
deficits
specific
an
marked
of
guage
(SLI),
impairment
impairment
by poor acquisition
cannot
in
SLI
be
grammar.
Language
problems
explained
by poor

English

two distinct

using

that generates

for explaining

and whether
linguistic
phenomena,
a
for
mechanism
is
forms.
these
required
encoding
irregular
secondary
a connectionist
In 1986, Rumelhart
and McClelland
model
proposed
were encoded
in which both regular past tenses and exceptions
within
a single
to
The
connectionist
type of neural mechanism.
approach
as arising
neuroscience
from
processes
cognitive
cognitive
explains

have

indicated,

while

leaving

loss,

hearing
disorder

developmental
If SLI
1998).

ard,

rulelike,

of this theory

extension

there has

difficulties.

connectionism;

impairment;
language
KEYWORDS?specific
lish past
tense;
speech perception

For example,
rules are proposed
a process
by which words
morphology,
such as stems, suffixes,
and prefixes

popular

to this day.
as sets of sym

grammars

from

resulting

processing

children's

One

tem

linguistic

as

be explained

that

that rules

proposed

that continues

mental

characterizes

linguistics

module

children.

a debate

sparking

rules.

is encoded

obtained
and from

impairments

can

impairments

from

resulting

Modern

blocks"

alternative

module,

processing

matical

tenses,

past

An

and reading-impaired
languageis not an
that SLI
impairment

suggest

is ideally

to rules.

units.
processing
to grammar
approach

To the extent

neuronlike

to explain
such as
processes
systematic
grammatical
a
it
radical
from
the ac
formation,
past-tense
represented
departure
was
a
wisdom
that
within
rule
cepted
language
processed
symbolic

bolic

processed

of

that past-tense

rules,
from

Evidence

with

difficulties

deficits

models

connectionist

are

ftake-tookj

of simple

and McClelland's

are not necessary

of

impairment

past-tense
deficit.

phonological

SLI
an

represent

explains

behavioral

bases

the behavior
Rumelhart

deficit.
speech-processing
neu
in cognitive
question

general
brain

from

in

(SLI)
a grammar

This
rules.
linguistic
on
verbs,
past-tense
frequently
focuses
are encoded
as
verbs
(Tmke-baked)
regular

debate
whether

specifically,

from

the

stems

general

a more

concerning

general

rules,

or a more

impairment

language
deficit

Canada

Ontario,

London,

ABSTRACT?Theories

The

IN PSYCHOLOGICAL

frank

&

Seidenberg,
as
disorder,

is a grammar-specific

it should

affect

exclusively

forms

irregular

deficit,

neurological

(Joanisse

some

(Pinker,

or per
Leon
linguists

past-tense

regular

intact

relatively

1998;

1991;

forms
van der

In this review, I discuss

evidence
the
Lely & Ullman,
2001).
regarding
of
in
SLI
and
do
that
the
facts
pattern
past-tense
suggest
impairment
not support
I
the view of SLI as a rule-learning
disorder.
Instead,
an alternative

present

quences

for

mation,

and

deficits

in other

that explains

theory

and processing.

perception

speech

learning
also

grammatical

makes

populations

This

processes

interesting

as an

SLI

deficit

has
such

predictions

in
impairment
conse
important
as past-tense
for
about

past-tense

of children.

THE CONNECTIONIST THEORY

on
here builds
theory of morphology
presented
It holds
and Rumelhart's
of the past tense.
(1986) model
one type of pro
that all morphological
forms are processed
within

The

connectionist

McClelland
Address
Western
Canada

to Marc
F. Joanisse,
of Psychology,
Department
e-mail: marcj@uwo.ca.

correspondence
Ontario,
N6A
5C2;

The

University

London,

Ontario,

of

cessing
ple

156 Copyright ?

mechanism

brain

regions

2004 American Psychological

Society

(connectionist
(Joanisse

&

networks)
Seidenberg,

Volume 13?Number 4

distributed
1999).

The

across

multi

connectionist

F. Joanisse

Marc

assumes

approach
actions
plex

among

behaviors

of these

units

language

reflect

In the case

networks.

that word

abilities

cognitive

processing
as

such

neural

assumes

that complex

simple

inter

this approach
sound

semantic

relationships;

of

For

gence

codes."
and

phonology
This

past").

tical

rules

linguistic

of morphology.

Instead,

forms

regardless

and

irregular

forms

the past

of whether

formation

is used

to encode

morphology

that affects

pairment
in the case

of forms

both

it is not necessary

the

rules

encode

for

as

dren's

An

ideally,

impaired

and

forms

irregular
and

in

semantic

is especially
not encountered

but

forms,

with

primary
SLI comes

from

studies

has

to walk.

She

morphological
a sentence-completion

the same

The girl

likes

did

Theories

of SLI as a rule-learning

thing

disorder

will
have
difficulty
impairment
producing
regular verbs on this task, but will perform better
studies

however,
Surprisingly,
between
either no difference
cally

worse

2001).
because

tionist

previously.

be more
make
tense

and phonological
by

form

the creative
that

produce

with

(e.g.,

with
with

with

tenses

past

SLI have

these
chil

these

explain

and

phonology,

children
them

later

instance,

these

of

aspect

intact

connectionist

will

can

theory

and

hypothesis

nonwords

from

forms

known

semantic

is

most
(bug

representations

in the case of regular

and irregular
ability
into play in the case of un
but do not come

Because

system

will

representations

to generalize

in a distributed

this

semantic

that

deficit

tend

neural

only

the

system,

to any
that an impairment
predicts
to affect
all word
forms. However,
on

these
phonology,
impaired
by a phonological

rely

to be more

is

that knowledge

posits

interactive

forms

are pre

do not

deficit
than
severely
are. Thus,
this hypothesis
with SLI
why children
explains
show the same performance
for nonwords
and familiar
deficits

forms;

in contrast,

true words

surprising

find ir
generally
than regular verbs.
on

forms.

dicted

found

(van der Lely & Ullman,

a
deficit,
rule-specific
on forms that are not rule
are not

familiar

intact

of

the integration

through

A phonological

(wug-wugged);

some

support

because

or numeri

verbs

ones

phonological-deficit

of

verbs.

irregular

with

For

also

arise

normally

ability

that are familiar,

implemented

she_).

SLI have difficulty

in learning
past tenses.
in children with
performance

however.

in

discovered

impaired

information.

relatively
the

impair
to novel

help

forms

forms

children

tense

SLI might
children
tend to

errors (i.e.,
the regular past
overregularization
applying
to an irregular verb, as in sleeped and taked) than normally
errors are thought to indicate
children.
Overregularization

the rule-based
intact

and

regular
The phonological-deficit
of SLI,
based
theories
with

for them

irregular

delay

of past-tense

informative,

fewer

developing

form

that children

of an overall

aspects

the

just as impaired
that are. However,
the results

that English-speaking
difficult
and tend to learn
then,

should

development,

tenses

that past

theory

bugged)

that children

irregular

verbs

irregular
inconsistent

of the fact

because

Other

and

seem

as on those

regular verbs
It is possible,
verbs

seem

results

the children

governed
in light

on

performance

These

of children

regular

to capture

been

phonological-deficit

semantic

task

yesterday;

predict

this

most

traditional

fails

on
takes a different
perspective
hypothesis
in
that a perceptual
deficit
leads
SLI, proposing
language
impairments
cause
to a phonological
deficit
that is the direct
of the language
seen in this disorder.
on the connec
deficits
This hypothesis
builds

The

deleterious

in children

deficits

using

the

deficit

THE PHONOLOGICAL-DEFICIT HYPOTHESIS

will
about

of SLI

Similarly,

of

IS SLI A RULE-LEARNING IMPAIRMENT?

of data

in children

perception.

speech

severely

source

that have

impairments
an account

vocabulary

delayed

accompanied

The

in SLI

of deficits

differently

affect

should

the relationship
between
and past
present
in rule learning,
from an impairment
the
can be
a
im
explained
by
phonological

all past-tense

of

range

because
regular
regular,
a deficit
same way. Thus,
in

phonological

that the speaker

full

children;

statis

verbs.
with
irregular
of SLI as a grammar-specific

difficulty

characterization

to exhibit

relationships.

impairments

regular

cases

in both

than resulting
in SLI
deficits

Rather

have

them

are processed

SLI

that they

are

they
in the

affect

should

because

tense,

is that

theory

are encoded

formation

past-tense

tense.

of this

prediction

word

instance,

SLI

for

the pattern

account,

tenses

past

with

room for an alternative

is clearly
however.
explanation,
a rule-based
account
does not explain why children with

There

2001).

in
both
overlap
"to move by foot in the

in order

like walked,

form,

with SLI than in other children (Pinker, 1991; van der Lely & Ullman,

walked

they may

that regular

For

of semantics-phonology

regularities?patterns

interesting

se

per

indicates

a "conver

represents

and

by foot,"
means
that

of codes

convergence

knowledge

walk

("to move

in semantics

to use

speakers

thus, morphology

instance,

to the rule-based

According

the relationship
be
and meaning
(semantics).
Although
(phonology)
tween sound and meaning
is a special
is usually
arbitrary, morphology
case because
share both phonological
related words
morphologically
and

a familiar

(In contrast,

correctly.

from memory.)
the fact that children
Thus,
might be recalled
are poor at
past tenses of nonwords
generating
again suggests
a rule for generating
have not encoded
past tenses.

characteristics

about

to answer

tively

that com

and

of the past tense,

on information

relies

knowledge

from

arise

(i.e., neurons),
the more basic

SLI stem

to perceive

marker

theory

performance
hypothesis
which

held

predicts wholesale
on irregular forms.
grew out of earlier

that

from a perceptual
certain
grammatical
1998;

(Leonard,

Tallal,

the
deficit

that phonological
deficits
proposes
hypothesis
tween perceptual
and grammatical
impairments.
ther suggests

that children

with

SLI

perception
difficulties

language

&

such
Fitch,

are
The

of

it difficult

that makes

markers,
Miller,

on

deficits

as

the past

1993).

the key

The

link

hypothesis

be
fur

show morphological

impairments
not only because
markers
they have difficulty
grammatical
perceiving
that occur in difficult-to-perceive
such as the endings of words,
contexts,

use of a past-tense
a
rule, because
they involve producing
never
been
heard.
The
fact that children
with
SLI

has

forms than control

children
suggests
overregularized
a rule for the past tense.
not acquired
these
Similarly,
to produce
the past tenses of
perform very poorly when asked

but

also because

the auditory
they have difficulty
translating
into a phonological
code necessary
for learning word

words

forms

of

forms.

fewer

that they have

children
nonwords
regular

(for which
e.g.,

ending,

morphological

the

wug-wugged;

knowledge

Volume 13?Number

"correct"

4 157

because

past

tense

is considered

is an
1). This
Fig.
a
use
must
speaker

to be

test

of

ideal
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crea

Regular

and

Irregular

Forms

in Aphasia

can impair
representations
phonological
has been previously
tested in adults with aphasia
grammar
(language
brain
Like
SLI, Broca's
impairments
following
damage).
aphasia

The

theory

that

inadequate

Language

Specific

in Children

Impairments

Regulars

100

D IrregularsHj
0 Nonwords

SLI

et al.

Semantic
Deficit

Intact Phonological
Deficit
Network
(CA)

Controls

Dyslexies
Joanisse

H </

Hi

(2000), Modeling Data

Joanisse

(2000)

correct
The left side of the graph shows percentage
verbs, irregular verbs, and nonwords.
The right side of the graph
and same-age
children,
impairment
(CA) control children.
(SLI), dyslexic
a phonological
deficit yielded an SLI-like deficit,
and language-impaired
connectionist
data from normally
networks;
presents
developing
a semantic deficit resulted
in
in a different
from "Language
Deficits
The data on the left are adapted
whereas
of impairment.
pattern
F.R. Manis,
P. Keating,
and M.S.
and Morphology,"
Children:
Seidenberg,
Phonology,
by M.F. Joanisse,
Dyslexic
Speech Perception,
The data on the
2000 by Elsevier. Adapted with permission.
Child Psychology,
77, pp. 30?60. Copyright
2000, Journal
of Experimental
to form past tenses
Fig. 1. Ability
for children with specific language

are from Joanisse

right

(caused

by damage

of regular

(2000).

in the left hemisphere)

is accom
This finding
past tenses of nonwords.

area

to Broca's

panied

by difficulty
producing
that separate
has been taken as evidence
and

regular
connectionist

network,

that

this

nisse

& Seidenberg,

impairment

cutting
by randomly
we were
able

way,

areas

in specific

connections
to simulate

different

for nonwords.

cially

is observed

what

The

pattern

in Broca's

these

patients'
phonological
a dramatically
sion yielded
on irregular
performance
what

precisely

Using

1997).

is observed

difficulties.

form

simulating

than

to

with

a semantic
marked

forms

and

le

by poorer
nonwords,

to the brain's
left
damage
the claim that different
forms of the

in patients

with

lobe. The results

support
temporal
can be susceptible
tense
to different
past

types

of brain

damage.

The

2000).

of

on
deficit
perceptual
was trained
to as

network

sounds

that

form,

delay
seen
pattern

in learning
in normally

had

all

slight

learned

irregular

forms

to regular

relative

children.

developing

and was
accurately,
at a level of accuracy

At
able

tasks

of nonwords

forms,

it
the end of training,
to generate
the past

similar

to that

of normal

adults.
amounts

Small

espe

remarkably
also consistent

pattern,

regular

to

similar

Interestingly,

deficit

tense,

verbs,
mantic

effect

of English
and past-tense
presenta se
a
form
would
generate
inputting
phonological
a
the
showed
network
and vice versa. During
training,
and

the meanings
such

tenses

Specifi
damage

of the past

and was

aphasies,

different

syndromes.

was

of deficits

In this

of the model.

aphasie

found
that a phonological
lesion
area resulted
in marked
degradation

Broca's

al.,

underlie

the

by investigating
past tenses
(Joanisse,

theory

leaning
sociate

and I tested the competing

theory
Seidenberg
occurs
of a phonological
deficit
because
(Joa
in the network
lesions
1999). We created artificial

we

cally,

mechanisms

et

(Ullman

morphology

irregular

neural

this

representations

of speech.

perception
difficult

for the network

the distinction
a pattern
with

between

of past-tense

the intact model,

of past

tenses,

of nonwords.

but
The

This

were

noise

of random
of the training

words,

added

noise

to develop

to the phonological
a deficit
in the
simulating

added

thus

had

the effect

of making

it

categories

crisp phonological
(e.g.,
1 shows, the result was
"d" and "t"). As Figure
consistent
with SLI: Compared
impairments
all three types
this model was poorer at learning

it was particularly
poor
network
also produced

at generating
the past tenses
errors that were
consistent

in
SLI: It generated
very few overregularizations
(2%, vs. 22%
toward zero-marking
the intact network)
and a greater tendency
errors,
tense as the past tense (5%, vs. none
in
the present
that is, repeating

with

Modeling
The

SLI

explanation

with

SLI

because
alizing

have
of the

to novel

of past-tense
specific

in SLI

producing

of phonological
a connectionist
Using

importance
forms.

deficits

difficulty

is a similar
past

tenses

one: Children
of nonwords

representations
model

(Fig. 2),

in gener
I tested

In contrast,
trained
when
the same network was
network).
a semantic
a remarkably
it produced
different
deficit
impairment,
a different
affected
that specifically
pattern
irregular verbs, along with
of errors (18% overregularization
errors, no zero-marking
errors).
the

intact

with

158Volume 13?Number

F. Joanisse

Marc

model of past-tense
that are used to encode information
Fig. 2. A connectionist
represent
learning. Ellipses
layers of artificial neurons
as patterns
across these neurons. Arrows
of activation
indicate weighted
connections
that are used to pass information
between
layers.
The phonology
and semantics
about a word's
sound and meaning,
hidden and cleanup layers are
layers encode information
respectively;
extra computational
uses to encode information.
that the network
The network
is used to simulate the task of producing
and
capacity
to the semantics
and past-tense
verbs. For instance,
the meaning
of a verb can be presented
presentrecognizing
layer, and the network
will

the phonological
form of the verb. The basis
as inputs, or by
receives
that the network

output
information

hidden

can be tested in this model by distorting

of language-learning
impairments
units from the cleanup
limiting its computational
capacity
(e.g., removing

layers).

connectionist
These
simulations
demonstrate
the importance
of
in the past tense, especially
in generalizing
the past tense
phonology
to novel forms. The simulations
deficit
also explain why a perceptual
to
does not specifically
forms or the ability
impair regular
produce
as in the case of the
at the ends of words,
consonants
regular past
tense: Poor
to a general
in past-tense
leads
phonology
degradation
but affects nonwords most severely. This is a remarkably
performance,
different
account,
pattern from what is predicted
by a dual-mechanism
but

to be

appears

one.

the correct

these

impairment

data help
to a broader

in language

learning

sense,

Children

and Dyslexia

with

Two

dyslexia

nological-deficit
have

an

raises
lead

dyslexia

Do
interesting
question:
to SLI-like
deficits?
past-tense

in a recent

dressed

Manis,

(Joanisse,

&

This

question

and dyslexic
The

2000).

Seidenberg,

deficits

phonological

of language-impaired

study
Keating,

a similar

strated

test of the pho

interesting
are
to
They
commonly
acknowledged
that are the cause
of their reading
prob

deficits

phonological

lems. This

an

represent

hypothesis.

in

was

ad

children

study demon
two groups
of

in the
deficits
language
were
the deficits
in the dys
weaker
children,
though
by definition
more
lexies
the
traditional
definition
of
(because
dyslexia
precludes
a
with
In
similar
general
problems
spoken
language).
particular,
marked
with nonword
and
pattern of past-tense
deficits,
by difficulties
past

children

deficits

play

Because
from

lems.

Indeed,

greater
Moreover,
with

a key

observed

(Fig.

1),

role

in past-tense

deficits,
with

studies

in the language-impaired
the

supporting

theory

the phonological-deficit

SLI
have

should

have

indicated

marked

theory

children

risk of reading
than normally
impairment
the types of reading deficits
observed

dyslexia,

the

identical

Volume 13?Number

4 159

in their

represent

currently
The

theory.

these

however.

We

in SLI,

just

expect
as the

severity

or exact

there

are

first

linguistic

G-SLI

so-called

with

are claimed

impairments
deficits.

to the

challenge

children

It remains

varies

impairments

of SLI,
deficits
in these

children

These

the

may

SLI who

with

sounds
and re
difficulty
speech
discriminating
to them, but have relatively
that are spoken
normal
to
and
tenses
form
past
comprehension
ability
(Briscoe
seems
to conflict with
of deficits
This pattern
the pho
have

nonwords

peating

grammatical
et al., 2001).

which

that poor perception

will
predicts
is that only a specific
explanation
a
deficit
that goes beyond
loss can
type of perceptual
general hearing
lead to the grammatical
deficits
found in SLI. For instance,
SLI might
a subtle deficit
in processing
involve
infor
rapid temporal
auditory

nological-deficit
hypothesis,
lead to grammatical
deficits.

which

mation,

specifically
in speech

hearing

loss would

repetition

and

discrimination

development

relatively

One

interferes
(Tallal

et

impair
of

with
al.,

auditory
speech

the

1993).

acuity,

while

to perceive
a more

ability

In contrast,

leading

leaving

to poor

grammatical

intact.

CONCLUSION

and phonological

nature.

In a broader

to

unclear

small
represent
simply
are
at
con
end
of
the
the
percentage
high
mean
are
tinuum of nonverbal
not
this
does
skills;
they
qualitatively
comes
from other children
different
with SLI. The second
challenge
to moderate
from children with mild
sensorineural
loss
(SNH).
hearing
of children

with

general

prob
are at

of

degree

Children

also

SLI

reading

information

a distinct
represent
actually
subtype
to be some variation
in nonlinguistic

stemming

reading
with

children

cues

reading
difficulties
& Norbury,
Joanisse
2001;
processing
(Briscoe,
Bishop,
et al., 2000). These data raise the
that dyslexia
and SLI are
possibility
caused
are not
the deficits
deficits,
by similar
underlying
though
necessarily

of children

populations

phonetic

pre

and

representation.

children.
developing
in SLI are consistent

of nonwords

by poor

as

dyslexia-like

that

and

that phonological

impairments.
are
in dyslexia
explained

deficits

reading

phonological
that children

dicts

was

tenses,

irregular
dyslexic

of

pattern

theory

and

phonological-deficit

individuals.

also

of language
of the role of phonological

Difficult Cases

whether

Tense

to tie explanations

SLI (G-SLI), whose

grammatical
language
not be accompanied
by nongrammatical

OTHER TEST CASES

Past

the
or

Despite

early

indicates
forms.

that

claims
children

Connectionism

by framing

knowledge

that SLI
with
lends

is a rule-learning
have problems

SLI
an

intriguing
of the past tense

the evidence

deficit,
with

perspective
not as rules

all

past-tense
on these deficits
and

exceptions,

Specific

but as the convergence

is a useful
of

test case
tense.

past

within

a broader

useful

insights

aphasia

and

semantics.

affects

hypothesis

phonological-deficit

framework
into how

of language

ability
to other

relates

SLI

In this sense,

and

SLI

and use

the acquisition

casts

also

impairment,

SLI
giving
as

such

impairments,

D.V.M.

of language

Journal of Child Psychology

329-340.

and Psychiatry

and Allied Disciplines,

M.F. (2000). Connectionist phonology. Unpublished

of Southern California, Los Angeles.
tation, University

Joanisse,

doctoral

and disorders
understanding: Development
in children. Hove, England: Psychology Press.

Joanisse, M.F., & Seidenberg, M.S. (1998). (See References)

in past-tense
McClelland,
J.L., & Patterson, K. (2002). Rules or connections
rule out? Trends in Cognitive Sci
inflections: What does the evidence
ences, 6, 465-472.

42,

disser

Joanisse, M.F., Manis, F.R., Keating, P., & Seidenberg, M.S. (2000). Language
in dyslexic
children: Speech perception,
and mor
deficits
phonology,
30-60.
Child
Journal
of
77(1),
phology.
Experimental
Psychology,
M.S.
Joanisse, M.F., & Seidenberg,
(1998). Specific
language
in grammar or processing?
A deficit
Trends in Cognitive
240-247.

Reading
(1997). Uncommon
comprehension

in Children

Impairments

and dyslexia.

Recommended
Bishop,

The

of phonology
of how phonology

Language

impairment:
Sciences,

2,

in verb morphology
Joanisse, M.F., & Seidenberg, M.S. (1999). Impairments
model. Proceedings
after brain injury: A connectionist
of the National
Academy of Sciences, USA, 96, 7592-7597.
Leonard, L.B. (1998). Children with specific
MA: MIT Press.
Pinker,

S. (1991). Rules

of language.

Science,

language

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impairment.

Cambridge,

530-535.

J.L. (1986). On learning the past tenses of

D.E., & McClelland,
(Eds.), Parallel dis
English verbs. In D. Rumelhart & J.L. McClelland
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Rumelhart,

research

Acknowledgments?This
Institutes

Canadian
Sciences

and

grateful

to Mark

and helpful

for Health

Research

Engineering
Seidenberg

discussion

was

Research

supported
(No. 118784)

Council

and Erin Robertson

of this

(No.

from

by grants
and

the

the Natural

23543-01).

I am

for their collaboration

J., Bishop, D.V.M., & Norbury, CF. (2001). Phonological

language and literacy: A comparison of children with mild
sensorineural hearing loss and those with specific language

MA: MIT Press.

M.T., Corkin, S., Coppola, M., Hickok, G., Growdon, J.H., Koroshetz,
within language: Evi
W.J., & Pinker, S. (1997). A neural dissociation
is part of declarative memory, and that
dence that the mental dictionary

Ullman,

research.

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