The SYNTAX section of the DELV

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The SYNTAX section of the DELV

Key Features and Examples
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Goals of the DELV SYNTAX

• To show how the child understands relationships
  between clauses and between sentences
• Focus on a few core concepts of modern syntax
  (wh-movement, wh-barriers, set properties of
  wh-words)
• Introduce elements of complexity
• (to reveal hidden knowledge)

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Components of The DELV SYNTAX Domain

• Three Item Types
• WH-Question Comprehension
• Passive Comprehension
• Article Production
• Important skills for understanding academic texts
  and learning to talk about them.

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Wh-Question ComprehensionTesting Procedure

• The child is told a brief story about a pictured
  event.
• She or he is then asked the key test question
  about some aspect of the event.
• Key Point The pictures support several possible
  interpretations of the question. The child must
  interpret all parts of the sentence prompt to
  answer correctly.

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Wh-Question ComprehensionTesting Procedure

• (Based on work by Finneran, 1993 Roeper de
  Villers, 1994 de Villiers, Roeper, Vainikka,
  1990 Roeper de Villiers, 1993 Vainikka
  Roeper, 1995 de Villiers Roeper, 1995)
• Can the child
• --Understand questions with two wh-words?

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This father and this baby were having lunch
together. Who ate what?
c. The Psychological Corporation
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Typical Answers to double WH questions

• CORRECT
• who baby and dad what apple and banana
  gt
• PAIRED, EXHAUSTIVE
  responses
• Ex. The dad ate the apple and the baby ate the
  banana.
• INCORRECT
• SINGLETONS
• One element dad baby
• Both objects, no subjects the apple and the
  banana
• One pair the baby ate the banana.
• OTHER (irrelevant)
• He was eating. I like bananas.

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Ex. 2 This girl played different things in
different ways. She played the drums with her
feet and the piano with her hands. How did the
girl play what?
c. The Psychological Corporation
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Typical Answers to double WH questions

• CORRECT
• how with hands and feet what piano and
  drums gt
• PAIRED, EXHAUSTIVE
  responses
• Ex. She playin the drum with her foot and the
  piano with her hand.
• INCORRECT
• SINGLETONS
• One element piano with her feet
• Both objects, no instruments the piano and the
  drums
• One pair she played the drums with her feet.
• OTHER (irrelevant)
• Hes talking in the mike. I can sing.

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What can go wrong (with a wh-question with 1
wh-word)?

• The child doesnt know that
• The WH-word refers not to a single person or
  thing, but to members of a set of things.
• Ex. (I saw a boy, a girl, and a dog.)
• What did I see?
• what all of the objects (boy, girl, dog)
• Who was at dinner?
• who the 5 or 6 individuals at dinner

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What can go wrong (with WH-questions with 2
WH-words)?

• The child doesnt know that
• Both WH-words refer not to a single person or
  thing, but to ALL the members of a set of things
• AND the members of the two sets are
  paired
• Ex. Who saw what?
• Person 1 saw Thing 1
• Person 2 saw Thing 2
• Person 3 saw Thing 3.

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WH-Item Type 2 WH-question word jumps over
two verbs comes from the end of the sentence.
Does the child know --which verbs wh-question
words go with (and which verbs they cannot go
with)? Use a false statement so 2-clause answer
will be different from 1-clause answer. --based
on research on barriers to syntactic movement (de
Villiers Roeper, 1995 and others.)
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Ex. 3 This mother snuck out one night when her
little girl was asleep and bought a surprise
birthday cake. The next day the little girl saw
the bag from the store and asked, What did you
buy? The mom wanted to keep the surprise until
later so she said, Just some paper towels. --
What did the mom say she bought?
c. The Psychological Corporation
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Typical answers to two-clause false clause
questions

• CORRECT
• TWO-CLAUSE (or long distance) responses
• (what.sayv1.boughtv2?)
• Ex. She said she bought paper towels.
• INCORRECT
• ONE-CLAUSE responses (whatbought?)
• Ex. (She bought) a birthday cake.
• OTHER
• a surprise a bag I dont know.

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Crucial concept for false clause questions

• what.sayv1.boughtv2?
• different from
• whatboughtv1?

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WH-Item Type 3 WH-question word blocked from
jumping over another wh-word cannot come from
the end of the sentence.
Does the child know -- when a question word can
come from a distant clause (and when it
cannot)? Does the child answer the right
question? --based on research on barriers to
syntactic movement (Vainikka Roeper, 1995 de
Villiers Roeper, 1995 and others.)
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Ex. 4 This mom didnt know how to bake a cake.
She saw a TV program about cooking, and she
learned to make a lovely cake with pudding
mix.-- How did the mom learn what to bake?
c. The Psychological Corporation
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Typical Answers to WH-barrier questions

• CORRECT (short distance) responses
• (How did she learn?) By watching TV..
• INCORRECT (wrong question) responses
• (middle questionwhat to bake?) a cake
• (long distance How..bake?) With a pudding
  mix, With a spoon
• OTHER
• Ex. She didnt know how.

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Ex. 5 These children were planning a surprise
party for their favorite teacher. Everyone was
going to bring some food for the party, but the
boy didnt know what to bring. He asked the
woman at the grocery store, What shall I bring
my teacher? The woman told me his teacher loved
bologna, so thats what the boy decided to
bring-- Who did the boy ask what to
bring?
c. The Psychological Corporation
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Typical answers to question with barrier

• CORRECT (short distance) responses
• (Who did she ask?) woman at store
• INCORRECT (wrong question) responses
• (middle questionwhat to bring?) bologna
• (long distance Who..bring?) teacher
• OTHER
• Ex. I dont know.

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The concept of a syntactic barrier

• Compare
• How did she learn to bake? (2 possible answers)
• Howlearn? (ex. From TV)
• OR
• How.bake? (ex. Like an Austrian pastry
  chef)
• How did she learn what to bake?
• the WHAT BLOCKS HOWBAKE
• How can come only from learn- clause
• Only howlearn? (from TV) is possible.

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Two-WH Example Responses from field testing
CHILD B (ID 18221) The dad ate the apple the
baby ate the nana. She played the piano with her
hands and the drums with her feet. The TV teached
her. The grocery store lady
CHILD A (ID 12663) Banana and a apple Feet and
her hands Paper towels A cake bologna
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Other WH Example Responses
CHILD B (18221) 4 correct barriers 1 middle
question
CHILD A (12663) 2 correct barriers, 2 barrier
violations 1 other
Scores 2 points (of 5)
4 points (of 5)
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Double-WH Responses by Age and Dialect
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Double-WH Responses by Age and Language Status
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LD False Clause Response Types by Age and
Language Status
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WH Barrier Responses by Age and Dialect
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WH Barrier Response Types by Age and Language
Status
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Syntax Item Type 2 PASSIVE Comprehension

• 3 Question Types
• Simple passives Testing movement
• Complex passives Testing for hidden properties
• (agents, results, different subjects)
• By-phrases Focus on ed versus ing
• (use single cue)

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Ex. 6 Simple Passive ExampleShow me The
elephant was pushed.
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Passive Question Type 1 SIMPLE Passives
Does the child distinguish these two
sentences? Ex. Someone pushed the
elephant. The elephant was pushed. Must choose
PASSIVE (b) over ACTIVE (a) or NEUTRAL (c )
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Ex. 7 Complex Passive ExampleShow me The boys
face was being painted.
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Passive Question Type 2 COMPLEX Passives
Does the child distinguish these two
sentences? Ex. The boys face was painted. The
boys face was being painted. Must choose
BETWEEN TWO PASSIVES (b and c) according to
implicit (unstated) information about ongoing
time and different agent.
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Passive Question Type 3 BY-PHRASE
(non)-Passives
Does the child distinguish these two
sentences? Ex. The plant was droppED by
John. The plant was droppING by
John. (by-phrase indicates location, not
agent) Must use single cue to REJECT the passive
when ED does not accompany the be auxiliary.
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Ex. 8 Non-passive ing exampleThe plant was
dropping by John
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Sample childrens responses

• CHILD B (18221)
• Simple passives 3 of 4
• Complex 2 of 4
• Locative by-phrases
• 2 of 2 (indicates mastery)
• 7 of 10

• CHILD A (12663)
• Simple passives 2 of 4
• Complex 1 of 4
• Locative by-phrases
• 1 of 2 (doesnt show mastery)
• 4 of 10 (chose 5 active foils)
• (lowest 30 of 5-year-olds)

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Passive Overall
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Passive Overall
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COMPLEX Passives(especially good discrimination
after age 5)
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ARTICLE Production Making DISCOURSE
CONNECTIONS

• Subtle demands on childs syntax and semantics
• Engage context, presupposition and general
  knowledge
• Essentially the same in AAE and MAE
• Best tested WITHOUT PICTURE STIMULI
• which can change conditions on presuppositions,
  known and new

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Examples of eliciting questions

• Part-the Sally was going to eat a banana, but
  first she had to take something off it. What
  did she take off it? (THE peel)
• Familiar-the A cat and a bird were sitting in a
  tree. They were friends. One of them flew out of
  the tree. Guess which. (THE bird)
• Specific-a I'll bet you have something hanging
  on the wall of your room at home. What is it? (A
  picture)
• Non-referential-a Fred wants to take his teddy
  bear, his favorite game, and his soccer ball over
  to his cousins house when he goes to visit. What
  can he put them all in? (A bag)
• Predicational-a Think of a baseball player. Can
  you imagine what one looks like? What does he
  have? (A glove)

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WHAT CAN GO WRONG? Types of Article Errors

• Using a for the the for a
• (a for the 8 times more common)
• Bare Singular (fly kite)
• Irrelevant responses (My sister has one. The
  man in the moon.)
• Note when children say my doll or some
  games, they are re-prompted with anything else?

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Example of Article Errors from Sample Children
Child A (12663) a for the What did she take off
the banana? a peel
Child B (18221) Bare singular What do you have on
the wall of your room? spiderweb
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Development of correct article use in MAE and AAE
speaking children.
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Development of correct article use in typically
developing and language impaired children
(discrimination best at earlier ages)
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Syntax Domain Overall
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Syntax Domain Overall
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Who are the sample children?
CHILD A (ID 12663) 5 years old White Female From
South Parents w/ HS education Mainstream English
speaker Not receiving speech or language services
CHILD B (ID 18221) 4 years old African American
boy From north Central US Parents w/ HS
education Some difference from MAE Not
receiving speech or language services
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What do the sample children show us?
CHILD B (18221) Sound understanding of several
complex grammatical structures. paired,
exhaustive responses, respected wh-barriers,
demonstrated theory of mind (unusual for a
4-year-old), sensitivity to a single cue in
passives no a for the article errors.
CHILD A (12663) Poor understanding non-exhaustiv
e answers, wrong clause answers in
wh-questions, active for passive answers, a
for the article error.
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What have they demonstrated?(cont)
CHILD A (12663) Syntax Domain Weakness (no
non-MAE morpho-syntax) Difficulty understanding
questions, misinterpreting morphological cues,
and at times not making the necessary links
between sentences. Risk for difficulty in the
classroom and in learning to read.
CHILD B (18221) Syntax Domain Strength (some
non-MAE morpho-syntax teached her she
go) Well-set to begin school and literacy
training. Low risk for difficulty in school
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Conclusions

• We have shown that the assessment of complex
  aspects of childrens syntactic development
  between the ages of 4 and 9 can be carried out in
  a dialect neutral fashion.
• These materials and procedures capture the
  development of several aspects of language that
  are vital for success in early schooling and the
  transition to literacy.
• They provide the clinician with a substantial
  profile of the child language strengths and
  weaknesses, not just a diagnostic categorization.
• As such they provide a much richer evaluation of
  language variation and its sources that has
  direct implications for areas and methods of
  intervention.