Dissociation of Syntax and Vocabulary Development in Junior Schoolchildren with Different Neuropsychological Profile

Abstract

This study aims to examine the features of text construction in terms of vocabulary and grammar in children with a weakness in the auditory verbal information processing (AV-group) and with a weakness in executive functions (programming and control of voluntary activity, EF-group). The participants were 71 second grade children from Moscow schools (mean age 8.8 years old, SD 0.29 years; 36 girls, 35 boys). Four groups were selected: children with good and weak development of AV and children with good and weak development of EF. The main hypothesis of the study, following A.R. Luria, was that in children with the weakness of AV, first of all, the paradigmatic mechanisms of word choice will suffer, and in children with the weakness of EF, the syntagmatic mechanisms for constructing a phrase and text. The use of non-parametric statistical analysis (Mann-Whitney test) showed the validity of the hypothesis and revealed the main errors in the narrative construction by children with both the weakness of AV and EF. The discussion of the results included consideration of the arguments in favor of a single or dual mechanism for the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar in children.