Profiling relative clause constructions in children with specific language impairment

This study highlights the importance of error analysis in providing a comprehensive profile of an individual's grammatical ability with regard to relative clause (RC) constructions. The aim was to identify error patterns in the production of RCs by English-speaking, school-aged children with specific language impairment (SLI) and to relate them to their level of competence with these structures. Children with SLI (mean age=6;10, n=32) and two control groups-a typically developing group matched for age (mean age=6;11, n=32) and a younger typically developing group (mean age=4;9, n=20), repeated sentences containing RCs that represented a range of syntactic roles. Data are presented on three distinct error patterns-the provision of simple sentences, obligatory relativizer omission and RC conversions. Each is related to the level of competence on RCs that each child has achieved.