The nature of phonological representations in children with Grammatical-Specific Language Impairment (G-SLI)

In this paper we present a model of abstract phonological representations in children with Grammatical-Specific Language Impairment (G-SLI). We report results from a new non-word repetition test, the Test Of Phonological Structure (TOPhS, van der Lely & Harris, 1999), which systematically varies syllabic complexity. G-SLI children have difficulty repeating non-words containing consonant clusters. Several patterns in the data lead us to hypothesise that G-SLI children have an abstract syllabic template no more complex than CV. When faced with a word containing a cluster, they are forced to rely on memorising only partially-structured sound sequences.