Assessment of

Morphology
& Syntax
Expression
Objectives
What is MLU
Stages of Syntactic Development
Examples of Difficulties in Syntax
Why preferring the term morphosyntax
The Assessment
Methods of Analysis


What is MLU?

stands for mean length of utterance

a measure of syntax development

is the average number of morphemes or words that
a client produces in an utterance

N.B. MLU for words does not reflect the use of bound
morphemes (i.e. will be equal to or smaller than the
MLU for morphemes)


MLU (Contd)
provides important information about
language development

i.e. an indicator of a language delay or
disorder


For Computing MLU, look at :
Box 6-3 Page 205-206 (Lund & Duchan)


Syntactic Development

One word syntax
Word acts like a whole sentence
Holophrase single words express ideas adults
would say in a sentence
Contains pragmatic & semantic information

One word syntax (Contd)
Transition to syntax
end of the of the single-word period
Using the same word with different intonation patterns
or with accompanying gestures to express different
intentions
The use of successive single words that relate to the
same event
Indications of moving toward word combinations

Two word combinations
18-20 months
When have acquired about 50 single words
Telegraphic utterances
They contain
Content-carrying words (nouns,verbs ,& adjectives)
Low-information words
(pronouns,articles,prepositions ) + inflectional
morphemes
Multiword combinations
Utterances of 3 or more words
When equal numbers of 1-word & 2-word
utterances are produced
MLU (1.5)
Simple clauses
Simple clauses that appear at this stage
more expanded (articles, adj., adv., are added)
combined to form multiclause utterances


Multiword combinations (Contd)
Development of verbs
Simple action verbs (e.g. eat & do)
Verbs indicating change in location (e.g. put & sit)
Verbs indicating the state of the subject (e.g. want &
know)
Demonstrative pronouns (e.g. this, that & it)
appear frequently as the subject of the sentence
e.g. That a cow
Multiple clauses
Appear between 2-3 years of age
MLU (3+)
Appearance of multiple clauses with no
connectives (e.g. you take that one, I take
that one)
Appearance of connective and
Connecting words
Connecting 2 clauses
Multiple clauses (Contd)
Appearance of Wh- words (e.g. I
remember where it is, when I get big I
can lift you up)
Appearance of simple relative clauses
(e.g. that a box that they put it in)

Difficulties in syntax:

are encountered as a wide range of
identifiable phenomena
examples
difficulties of message structure
confuses pronouns/prepositions
has few determiners
does not put endings on verbs
can not construct complete sentences


Why the term morphosyntax
was chosen instead of sytax?


wide-range of clinical symptomatology
Rarely,
a disorder will respect a linguistic boundary
such as that between
Morphology & syntax
Syntax & lexis
disorders affecting these areas without
affecting the area of meaning


Points to consider
Speakers execute utterances and dont actually
speak in sentences
Speech is executed in units that are smaller or bigger than
sentences
Within utterances, speech is prosodically structured
in tone groups
So, prosodic factors help to mark the status of a word/phrase
Assessment of expressive
morphosyntax
Points (Contd)



MLU measure correlates with syntactic
complexity until the MLU (3) is reached

MLU above (3) overestimates grammatical
complexity of delayed language children
Elicitation procedures
Eliciting complements
Introduce the unexpected (e.g. it is blue)
Descriptive games
Verbal scenarios

Eliciting verb tenses (present and past)
Narrative activities
Elicitation procedures (Contd)
Eliciting multiple clause sentences
Description games
Story telling or retelling
Eliciting question forms
The messenger game
Eliciting negatives
Creating the need for objects that are not present
Introducing the unexpected
Patterned practice
Elicitation procedures (Contd)

Eliciting lexical verb clauses
Improbable picture (e.g. what is wrong
with the picture)
Description games (e.g. telling a third
person what the clinician is doing)

Sample Analysis
Segment sample into utterances
Calculate MLU
Identify all syntactic features
Close portions -excluded from MLU
calculation- in parentheses

Sample Analysis (Contd)
Detailed analysis of a language sample
(e.g. LARSP-Language Assessment and Screening
Procedure)
List the structures that are ready to be
analyzed
Organize each structure errors


Sample Analysis (Contd)
Analysis of Clause Structure Production
1. Listing transcript of clauses utterances
2. Exclude
A. utterances that were excluded from MLU
computation
B. Questions
3. Indicate errors
4. Categorize the utterances
5. Note
A. Clause types used
B. Frequency
C. Where errors occurred

Sample Analysis (Contd)
Noun Phrase Analysis
1. list the noun phrases
2. Indicate the errors
3. Eliminate utterances that are
A. Stereotyped
B. Direct imitations
4. Include
A. Elliptical utterances
B. Questions that were excluded from clause analysis

Sample Analysis (Contd)
Question Analysis
1. Identify all questions, including those formed
with intonation
2. List & classify all questions (e.g. yes-no, wh-)
3. Indicate the questions that have errors
4. Note
A. if child does not use any questions
B. Uses only one form
Sample Analysis (Contd)
Negation Analysis
1. List all syntactic negation forms
2. Note the few instances of syntactic negation
used
3. Indicate the forms with deviations from adult
structure