Lexical-Semantic Cues Induce Sound Pattern Stability in Children With Developmental Language Disorder

Purpose: When learning novel word forms, preschoolers with developmental language disorder (DLD; also known as specific language impairment) produce speech targets inaccurately and with a high degree of intraword variability. The aim of the current study is to specify whether and how layering lexical-semantic information onto novel phonological strings would induce increased organization of sound production patterns. Method: Twenty-one preschoolers with DLD and 21 peers with typical language (ranging in age from 4;1 to 5;11 [years; months]) imitated multiple renditions of novel words, half with (i.e., words) and half without (i.e., nonwords) a linked visual referent. Methods from network science were used to assess the stability and patterning of syllable sequences. Sound accuracy was also measured. Results: Children with DLD were less accurate and more variable than their typical peers. However, once word forms were associated with a visual referent, network stability, but not accuracy, improved for children with DLD. Conclusions: Children with DLD showed significant word form deficits as they acquired novel words and nonwords. The inclusion of a meaningful referent resulted in increased sound sequence stability, suggesting that lexical-semantic information provides a bootstrap for phonological organization in children with DLD.