A descriptive study of lexical organisation in bilingual children with language impairment: Developmental changes

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to describe the development of Arabic and Swedish lexical organisation in bilingual children with language impairment (BLI).

Method: Lexical organisation was assessed through word associations in 10 BLI and 10 bilingual children with typical development (BTD), aged 6;2–8;0 years, matched for age and gender. The participants were assessed twice, with a 1-year interval. Word associations were coded as paradigmatic, syntagmatic, phonological, other and no answer. This study reports analyses of the semantically-related syntagmatic and paradigmatic associations. Using repeated measures ANOVA, main and interaction effects of Group, Time and Language were examined for paradigmatic and syntagmatic associations separately.

Result: The interaction between Group and Time was significant for both associations. The BLI group increased syntagmatic associations from time 1 to time 2, while the BTD group increased paradigmatic associations. Results showed a significant main effect of Language for both types of associations, with better performance in Swedish. Significant Group by Language interactions resulted from lower Arabic than Swedish syntagmatic and paradigmatic scores for the BLI and BTD groups, respectively.

Conclusion: Differing developmental trajectories indicate that bilingual children with LI develop lexical organisation at a slower pace than bilingual peers with typical language development.

Keywords::

• Bilingualism
• lexicon
• primary language impairment

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Sunnerdahl Foundation for the Handicapped, Jerring Foundation, Birgit and Gad Rausing Foundation, Kempe- Carlgrenska Foundation, Samariten Foundation and Solstickan Foundation. We are grateful to the children, teachers and parents that participated. The authors would like to thank Frida Petersen, Mohammed Wail Yassin and Amani Hallberg for carrying out some of the language assessments, Naserulla Bakly and Andreas Hallberg for help with Arabic translations and Olof Sandgren and Susanna Whitling for help with preparation of the manuscript.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.