LEXICAL VERBS AND LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT - A CASE-STUDY

Crystal has long advocated the extension of case-study approaches to language impairment. In the context of two other case studies in the literature, which highlight distinct problems in the linguistic systems of the individuals (both children) they consider, this study, of another child, identifies a particular difficulty with lexical verbs. It is suggested that while the data presented here suggest that it is worth investigating the issue of lexical verb deficits in language-impaired children, the major role for case studies is in identifying the range of possible deficits for multi-dimensional group studies of language impairment.