Spelling performances in 104 Danish children from Grades 4 to 6 were compared across three levels of orthographic transparency. At the first level all spellings that were plausible at the level of the single phoneme were accepted. At the second level spellings were accepted only if they were plausible when the phonological context was considered (context sensitive spellings). At the third level word-specific spelling accuracy was required. There were 16 word items per level, matched for structure and frequency. Scores for context sensitive spellings were intermediate between scores at the phonemic level and the word-specific level, both for vowel and consonant spellings. Scores for context sensitive vowels and consonants were significantly interrelated even when performances at the phonemic and word-specific levels were controlled. The results demonstrate that Danish spellers beyond the initial phases of literacy development rely on phonological entities larger than the single phoneme. They extend similar findings from English in suggesting that knowledge of context sensitive spellings is a separate component of spelling competence.

Neurocognitive studies can approach gene-based developmental language impairments from two angles, which are complementary and ideally combined in a research program. One approach aims at an optimal phenotypic description of a disorder and from there proceeds to a biological and developmental understanding. Complementary to such a top-down approach, a bottom-up perspective will primarily focus on potential etiological pathways and attempt to explain complex outcome phenotypes in terms of elementary developmental disturbances. My paper is dedicated to this latter approach. I argue that in behaviorally defined disorders (such as specific language impairment or autism) shared genetic risk and common etiology can at best be expected for specific aspects of language deficit and that such shared etiology will only apply to subtypes of these disorders. One reason for this skepticism is that the emerging language system in children can be affected in many different ways via more elementary sensory, perceptual, cognitive, and motor impairments. Neurocognitive research on developmental language disorders relies on an understanding of such potential elementary disturbances before it can confidently proceed to the study of complex linguistic impairments.

This longitudinal study investigates the distribution of null and overt subjects in the spontaneous production of six Italian-speaking children between the ages of 1 year, 7 months and 3 years, 3 months. Like their peers acquiring other Romance null-subject languages, the children in this sample produced more overt subjects as their mean length of utterance in words (MLUW) increased. Pronominal subjects, and specifically first person pronouns, accounted for an increasingly larger proportion of the overt subjects used. The distribution of both pronominal and lexical subjects was further investigated as a function of the informativeness value of a number of pragmatically relevant features. The results showed that as early as MLUW 2.0 Italian-speaking children can use null and overt subjects in a pragmatically appropriate way. The relevance of these findings is discussed with reference to performance limitation and syntactic accounts of subject omission, and implications are drawn for a model of language development that incorporates the mastery of pragmatics in the acquisition of syntax.

Experiments using the gating paradigm investigated the effects of auditory–visual (AV) and auditory-only perceptual training on second-language spoken-word identification by Japanese and Korean learners of English. Stimuli were familiar bisyllabic words beginning with /p/, /f/, //, /l/, and /s, t, k/ combined with high, low, and rounded vowels. Results support the priming role of visual cues in AV speech processing. Identification was earlier with visual cues and following training, especially for words beginning with // and /l/, which also showed significant effects of adjacent vowel. For the Japanese, the AV advantage in identifying //- and /l/-initial words was accentuated following training. Findings are discussed within a multimodal episodic model of learning.

The primary purpose of the study reported here was to explore the effects of the complexity of syllable structure and the effects of task differences in the explanation of deficit in phonological awareness (PA). A sample of 97 subjects was selected and organized into three different groups: 29 reading-disabled (RD) children, 41 normal readers matched in age with the former, and 27 younger normal readers at the same reading level as those with reading disabilities. We administered PA tasks which included items with different complexity of syllable structure. The results showed that the complexity of syllable structure had no particularly marked effect on the dyslexic children. Rather, the isolation task revealed the phonological deficit across all syllable structures.

The development of children's writing of their own names as compared to their writing of dictated words was examined on samples of children ranging from 2 to 5 years of age, who were immersed in Hebrew or Dutch and recruited from low to high socioeconomic status families. Analyses were based on four data sets collected in three studies. From a young age, children wrote their name on a higher level than they wrote other words, and name writing improved with age more rapidly than word writing across the whole age range. Furthermore, the intercorrelations between word writings, corrected for age, were generally higher than the correlation between word and name writing, indicating that children exhibit a unique approach to the writing of their own name, irrespective of other background variables. Children's advanced skill in writing their name may suggest that name writing promotes the development of writing in general.

This study examined the use of nonstandard forms in the language production of typically developing toddlers. Forty-four African American and White children, ages 2.5 and 3.5 years, were assigned to one of four groups based on their chronological age and linguistic background. Language sample analysis and a listener judgment task were used to evaluate nonstandard speech. Results indicated that 2.5- and 3.5-year-old toddlers from African American English backgrounds produced similar amounts of nonstandard speech. However, 2.5-year-old toddlers from standard American English backgrounds produced greater amounts of nonstandard speech than their 3.5-year-old peers.

There is a good deal of interest in the application of neurocognitive techniques to investigate the underpinnings of developmental language impairments (DLIs). Electrophysiological techniques such as electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography offer the promise of the ability to track brain activity with precision in time and space. This article describes a number of findings from studies of normal adults and children that are relevant to neurocognitive studies of developmental language impairments and outlines a series of challenges that should be met in order for electrophysiological measures to realize their promise.

Knowledge of the environmental and genetic etiologies of complex cognitive disorders can guide strategies for diagnosis, prevention, and therapy, but disentangling the various causes can be very challenging. Two basic approaches can be used in identifying genetic factors, a top-down approach, in which phenotypic descriptions are used to discover genes that influence those phenotypes, and a bottom-up approach, comparing the phenotypic effects of genes that are known to cause syndromes that include cognitive disabilities. Thorough characterization of phenotypes throughout development is critical to both of these methods. These strategies have been applied to the characterization of genetic etiologies for reading disability, language disorders, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism.

Although phonemic awareness does not usually develop outside the acquisition of alphabetic reading, nonnegligible phoneme manipulation abilities have been reported in Japanese fourth graders who knew only the kana, nonalphabetic, writing system. The present contribution explored whether some characteristics of this system may facilitate phonemic awareness in Japanese children. In two distinct training studies, the pre- and posttest phonemic awareness abilities of three groups were compared, one trained with explicit reference to some organizational aspects of the kana matrix, one trained without such reference, and one control. Training was effective in both studies, especially when displaying explicit reference to the kana system. Some features of this system thus seem helpful in drawing Japanese children's attention to phonemic constituents.

The present investigation sought to evaluate patterns of article use in a group of monolingual Spanish-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI). In particular, because of conflicting results reported in previous studies, it was of interest to discern specific types of nontarget responses and how these corresponded to what has been reported in other Spanish-speaking children with SLI. Eleven children with SLI and 11 age-matched peers participated in the study. Three different spontaneous speech samples were gathered from each child. In addition, an experimental task that assessed the children's use of articles with a variety of nouns was also administered to the children. The results of the study for both spontaneous speech and experimental data indicated that the children with SLI performed significantly poorer in their use of Spanish articles than their age-matched peers. Most of the nontarget responses consisted of omission of the target article. In contrast to a previous study by Restrepo and Gutiérrez–Clellen, the children did not present with deficits in noun phrase gender agreement. The gender errors that were observed appeared to be due to difficulties accessing the correct article form and not due to deficits in knowledge of the gender agreement paradigm. Possible theoretical explanations were explored suggesting that both processing and linguistic explanations, in particular optionality of determiners, could explain the observed patterns. Reasons for cross-study differences in error patterns are suggested, including relative phonological skill and language learning environment.

Developmental disorders affecting speech and language are highly heritable, but very little is currently understood about the neuromolecular mechanisms that underlie these traits. Integration of data from diverse research areas, including linguistics, neuropsychology, neuroimaging, genetics, molecular neuroscience, developmental biology, and evolutionary anthropology, is becoming essential for unraveling the relevant pathways. Recent studies of the FOXP2 gene provide a case in point. Mutation of FOXP2 causes a rare form of speech and language disorder, and the gene appears to be a crucial regulator of embryonic development for several tissues. Molecular investigations of the central nervous system indicate that the gene may be involved in establishing and maintaining connectivity of corticostriatal and olivocerebellar circuits in mammals. Notably, it has been shown that FOXP2 was subject to positive selection in recent human evolution. Consideration of findings from multiple levels of analysis demonstrates that FOXP2 cannot be characterized as “the gene for speech,” but rather as one critical piece of a complex puzzle. This story gives a flavor of what is to come in this field and indicates that anyone expecting simple explanations of etiology or evolution should be prepared for some intriguing surprises.

We extend our warmest thanks to the many reviewers who have helped with the editorial process over the past year.

This paper describes the next steps for establishing detailed, useful behavioral phenotypes and for moving forward in the study of the relationships among genes, the environment, and language disorders. Key issues are recognizing the continuum of language behaviors to accurately describe disorders and the spectrum of typical development. A coordinated plan with foundational studies that address definition, measurement, design, and analytical methods is needed. Researcher capacity must be increased, and a greater focus on communication across disciplines to successfully accomplish interdisciplinary research is required. Language is not static, even in disorders; thus, we must study change over time. It is necessary to think about behavioral phenotypes in terms of developmental trajectories. Finally, data sharing and ethical and legal issues must be addressed.