@article{StegenwallnerSchuetzAdani2021,
  author    = {Stegenwallner-Sch{\"u}tz, Maja and Adani, Flavia},
  title     = {Number dissimilarity effects in object-initial sentence comprehension by German-speaking children with specific language impairment},
  series = {Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR / American Speech Language Hearing Association},
  volume    = {64},
  journal   = {Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR / American Speech Language Hearing Association},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {American Speech-Language-Hearing Assoc.},
  address   = {Rockville},
  issn      = {1092-4388},
  doi       = {10.1044/2020_JSLHR-19-00305},
  pages     = {870 -- 888},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Purpose: This study examines the contribution of number morphology to language comprehension abilities among children with specific language impairment (SLI) and age-matched controls. It addresses the question of whether number agreement facilitates the comprehension accuracy of object-initial declarative sentences. According to the predictions of the structural intervention account for German, number agreement should assist the correct interpretation of object-initial sentences. Method: This study examines German-speaking children with SLI and a control group of age-matched typically developing children on their sentence comprehension skills for auditory presented subject-verb-object and object-verb-subject (OVS) sentences. The sentences were manipulated with respect to the number properties of the noun phrases (e.g., one plural and one singular, or both singular) and the number agreement of the verb. Results: The group of children with SLI demonstrated poorer comprehension accuracy in comparison to controls. Comprehension difficulty was limited to OVS sentences among children with SLI. In addition, children with SLI comprehended OVS sentences in which number agreement (with plural subject and verb inflection) indicated the noncanonical word order more accurately than OVS sentences with two singular noun phrases and therein did not differ from controls. Conclusion: The study suggests that number agreement helps alleviate the difficulty with OVS sentences and enhances comprehension accuracy, despite the finding that children with SLI exhibit lower comprehension accuracy and more heterogeneous interindividual differences, relative to controls.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{StegenwallnerSchuetzAdani2020,
  author    = {Stegenwallner-Sch{\"u}tz, Maja and Adani, Flavia},
  title     = {Production of referring expressions by children with ASD},
  series = {Language acquisition : a journal of developmental linguistics},
  volume    = {27},
  journal   = {Language acquisition : a journal of developmental linguistics},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {Routledge, Taylor \& Francis Group},
  address   = {Abingdon},
  issn      = {1048-9223},
  doi       = {10.1080/10489223.2020.1769625},
  pages     = {276 -- 305},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {This study examines the discourse basis for referent accessibility and its relation to the choice of referring expressions by children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and typically developing children. The aim is to delineate how the linguistic and extra-linguistic context affects referent accessibility to the speaker. The study also examines the degree to which accessibility effects are modulated by cognitive factors such as working memory capacity. In the study, the contrast levels between the referent and a competitor (one contrast/two contrasts) and the syntactic prominence of the referent (subject/object position in the preceding question) were manipulated in an elicited production task. The results provide evidence that the referring expressions of children with ASD correlate with the discourse status of referents to a similar extent as in typically developing controls. All children were more likely to refer with lexical NPs to referents that contrasted on two levels with a highly prominent competitor, compared to referents that contrasted on one level. They were also more likely to produce pronouns for referents previously mentioned in the subject than the object position. The effect of both discourse factors was modulated by the age and working memory capacity of the children with and without ASD. Accordingly, the study suggests that children with ASD do not generally differ from children with typical development in their referential choices when the discourse status of a referent allows them to model the referent's accessibility from their own discourse perspective in a way that is modulated by working memory capacity.},
  language  = {en}
}