Studie z Aplikované Lingvistiky (Dec 2023)
The Assessment of Phonological Short-term Memory via “Quasi- universal” vs. Language-specific Nonwords as a Clinical Marker for Language Impairments
Abstract
Background. In recent years, limited phonological short-term memory has become a widely recognized clinical marker for language(-related) impairments both for monolingual and bilingual children. Usually, it is assessed by the repetition of nonwords, sentences, and digit spans. However, in the case of bilingual children, its assessment has been shown to be inaccurate due to the influence of bilinguals’ first language phonotactics and their limited command of the second language. Methods. Monolingual (n = 712) and bilingual (n = 1,004) German preschoolers (age 4;0–4;11 years) were compared with each other with respect to their German language skills and performance in German-based and “quasi-universal” nonword repetition tasks (that is, items following the phonotactic rules of German vs. many world languages). Associations of both kinds of nonword repetition tasks with children’s language impairments were quantified. Results. German language skills of the bilinguals were weaker than those of the monolinguals. Whereas the bilinguals scored significantly lower than the monolinguals in German-based nonwords, there were no considerable differences between these subgroups in quasi-universal items. Poor performance in tasks employing both German-based and quasi-universal nonwords was significantly associated with language impairments. In contrast to quasi-universal nonwords, weak performance in German-based items was more strongly associated with limited German language skills than with language impairments. Conclusions. Because nonword repetition tasks were designed to identify children with language impairments, and not those with a weak command of German, quasi-universal nonwords appear to be more appropriate for language tests than language-specific items.
