Home Determining the development of syntax in typically-developing Indian adolescents using a syntactic analysis package
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Determining the development of syntax in typically-developing Indian adolescents using a syntactic analysis package

  • Swathi Shenoy and Sudhin Karuppali ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: December 8, 2018

Abstract

Background

The syntactic structures used by adolescents can be calculated by measuring various markers that have the scope of developing with age. The use of such markers can be influenced by the type and modality of discourse on the individual uses.

Aims

The present study was aimed at exploring the syntactic development in 10–16-year-old Indian adolescents using markers such as sentences, clauses, subordinators, coordinators, T-units and the subordination index (SI) using written expository texts.

Methods

The study followed a cross-sectional study design following a non-random convenient sampling procedure. A total number of 180 typically-developing adolescents divided into six groups participated in the study. Phase 1 of the study comprised the preparation of the stimuli; Phase 2 included the data collection; Phase 3 focused on the data analysis; and Phase 4 involved the statistical analysis performed on the obtained data.

Results

One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a main level of significance at p < 0.05 for all variables (except SI) indicating an overall change in the development across the six age groups. Bonferroni’s post hoc analysis indicated poor significance between the groups in almost all the six variables.

Conclusions

Understanding the syntactic markers in the language of adolescents is essential to determine the academic and communicative effectiveness of these individuals.

Appendix

Written discourse sample

Participant name: XYZ

Class: 7th standard

The seasons are very important for us. Seasons are formed to make the climate suitable fo us. It is protecting us. The variation ia climate is known as season. In season there are 4 types. They are summer monsoon winter and autum. Seasons varies from 3 month to month. Summer season occurs on feb march april. and monsoon occurs on may june july. Autumn occurs on august sept october and winter occurs on nov dec jan. Summer season keeps us warm. Monsoon brings the rain and autumn is climate which is suitable for us. Winter season is climate which make us cold. We Should be adjust to all the seasons. Winter season is a enjoyable season bcuz in winter season we will drink hot coffee or tea. It is very good and nice season. We should be adjustable for all the season. Most of the people like summer season. Seasons are main source in the earth. Without season we are noy able to live. We will not get food becuz if summer season is not there there will be no sunlight to the plant and it will not produce food and without season it is harmful to us .so we should adjust to all the season. In summer season, we wear cotton clothes In monsoon we wear raincoats. while going outside. In autumn, it is humidity. We can wear any kind of clothes. .In winter we used to wear woollen sweater .Season are very enjoyable and good

Number of sentences: 26

Number of T-units: 31

Number of clauses: 39

Number of subordinators: 8

Number of coordinators: 5

Subordination index: 1.25

References

[1] Nippold MA, Ward-Lonergan JM, Fanning JL. Persuasive writing in children, adolescents, and adults: a study of syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic development. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2005;36(2):125–38.10.1044/0161-1461(2005/012)Search in Google Scholar

[2] Nippold MA, Mansfield TC, Billow JL, Tomblin JB. Expository discourse in adolescents with language impairments: examining syntactic development. Am J Speech-Language Pathol. 2008;17(4):356–66.10.1044/1058-0360(2008/07-0049)Search in Google Scholar

[3] Diessel H. On the role of frequency and similarity in the acquisition of subject and non-subject relative clauses. In: Syntactic complexity: diachrony, acquisition, neuro-cognition, evolution. Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing; 2009. p. 251–76.10.1075/tsl.85.11ontSearch in Google Scholar

[4] Wang X-L. Maintaining three languages: the teenage years. Bristol, United Kingdom: Multilingual Matters; 2015. 315 p.10.21832/9781783094493Search in Google Scholar

[5] Bulté B, Housen A. Evaluating short-term changes in L2 complexity development. Círculo Lingüística Apl a la Comun. 2015;63:42–76.10.5209/rev_CLAC.2015.v63.50169Search in Google Scholar

[6] Thuresson J. The syntactic development in the earlier stages of children’s first language acquisition. Sweden: Linnaeus University; 2011.Search in Google Scholar

[7] Scott CM, Windsor J. General language performance measures in spoken and written narrative and expository discourse of school-age children with language learning disabilities. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2000;43(2):324–39.10.1044/jslhr.4302.324Search in Google Scholar PubMed

[8] Hirano K. Research on T-unit Measures in ESL. J Child Lang Acquis Dev. 1988;8(2):14–5.Search in Google Scholar

[9] Nippold MA. Developmental markers in adolescent language: syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 1993;24(1):21–8.10.1044/0161-1461.2401.21Search in Google Scholar

[10] Jalilevand N. Three measures often used in language samples analysis. J Child Lang Acquis Dev. 2014;2(1):1–12.Search in Google Scholar

[11] Singla AL. The relationship between lexicon and syntax in texts written in Catalan by school children and adolescents. Province of Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona; 2012.Search in Google Scholar

[12] Gustafson P. Written language development in adolescents: pause patterns and syntax in the writing process. Sweden: Lunds universitet; 2011.Search in Google Scholar

[13] Scott CM. Producing complex sentences. Top Lang Disord. 1988;8(2):13–4.10.1097/00011363-198803000-00006Search in Google Scholar

[14] Paul R, Norbury C, Gosse C. Language disorders from infancy through adolescence – listening, speaking, reading, writing, and communicating, 5th ed. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier Health Sciences; 2017. 812 p.Search in Google Scholar

[15] Berman H. Children and war: current understandings and future directions. Public Health Nurs. 2001;18(4):243–52.10.1046/j.1525-1446.2001.00243.xSearch in Google Scholar PubMed

[16] Gummersall D, Strong C. Assessment of complex sentence production in a narrative context. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 1999;30:152–64.10.1044/0161-1461.3002.152Search in Google Scholar PubMed

[17] Lintunen P, Mäkilä M. Measuring syntactic complexity in spoken and written learner language: comparing the incomparable? Res Lang. 2014;12(4):377–99.10.1515/rela-2015-0005Search in Google Scholar

[18] Ott DL. Syntactic and semantic development in adolescents’ persuasive discourse. Florida: Florida State University Libraries; 2013.Search in Google Scholar

[19] Koutsoftas AD. School-age language development: application of the five domains of language across four modalities. In: Capone-Singleton N, Shulman BB, editor(s). Language development: foundations, processes, and clinical applications. MA, USA: Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2013. p. 215–29.Search in Google Scholar

[20] Iuliano B. Expository and narrative discourse in adolescents with reading and language impairments: assessment and intervention. Amherst, MA, USA: University of Massachusetts Amherst; 2012.Search in Google Scholar

[21] Pressley M, McCormick CB. Child and adolescent development for educators. New York, USA: Guilford Press, 2007. 498 p.Search in Google Scholar

[22] Berman RA, Nir-sagiv B. Comparing narrative and expository text construction across adolescence: a developmental paradox. Discourse Process. 2007;43(2):79–120.10.1080/01638530709336894Search in Google Scholar

[23] Nippold MA. School-age children talk about chess: does knowledge drive syntactic complexity? J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2009;52(4):856–71.10.1044/1092-4388(2009/08-0094)Search in Google Scholar

[24] Karuppali S, Bhat J. Efficacy of using simile completion tasks as a measure to evaluate the figurative language abilities in adolescents aged between 10–15 years. Nepal J Med Sci. 2014;3(2):110–5.10.3126/njms.v3i2.13454Search in Google Scholar

[25] Maitreyee R, Goswami SP. Language proficiency questionnaire: an adaptation of LEAP-Q in Indian context. Unpublished dissertation. Mysore: University of Mysore; 2009.Search in Google Scholar

[26] Berman RA, Nayditz R, Ravid D. Linguistic diagnostics of written texts in two school-age populations. Writ Lang Lit. 2011;14(2):161–87.10.1075/wll.14.2.01berSearch in Google Scholar

[27] Llinares A. Content and foreign language integrated learning. Contributions to Multilingualism in European Contexts – Edited by Y. Ruiz de Zarobe, J. M. Sierra and F. Gallardo del Puerto. Int J Appl Linguist. 2011;21(3):416–420.10.1111/j.1473-4192.2011.00296.xSearch in Google Scholar

[28] DeCapua A. Compound sentences and introduction to complex sentences: adverbial clauses. New York, USA: Springer International Publishing; 2017. p. 279–312.10.1007/978-3-319-33916-0_9Search in Google Scholar

[29] Piaget J, Inhelder B. The psychology of the child. New York, USA: Basic Books; 2008. 192 p.Search in Google Scholar

[30] Johansson V. Lexical diversity and lexical density in speech and writing: a developmental perspective. Work Pap. 2008;53:61–79.Search in Google Scholar

[31] Crossley SA, Weston JL, McLain Sullivan ST, McNamara DS. The development of writing proficiency as a function of grade level: a linguistic analysis. Writ Commun. 2011;28(3):282–311.10.1177/0741088311410188Search in Google Scholar

[32] Rubin KH. The play observation scale. Ontario, Canada: University of Waterloo; 1989.Search in Google Scholar

[33] Nippold MA, Mansfield TC, Billow JL, Tomblin JB. Syntactic development in adolescents with a history of language impairments: a follow-up investigation. Am J speech-language Pathol. 2008;18(3):241–51.10.1044/1058-0360(2008/08-0022)Search in Google Scholar

[34] Loban W. Language development: kindergarten through grade twelve. NCTE Committee on Research Report No. 18; 1976.Search in Google Scholar

[35] Hunt KW. Grammatical structures written at three grade levels. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English (Research Report No. 3); 1965.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2018-03-19
Accepted: 2018-05-15
Published Online: 2018-12-08

©2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Original Articles
  3. Awareness and practices of menstrual hygiene among females of reproductive age in rural Puducherry – a mixed method study
  4. Many hours of watching medical TV shows is associated with greater medical knowledge
  5. Spatio-temporal trends in the risk of adolescent pregnancy in Minas Gerais, Brazil, 2000–2015
  6. Sexual behaviour and its correlates among adolescents in Brunei Darussalam
  7. The relationship between anxiety and social support in male and female students in high schools in the southeast of Iran
  8. Cannabis and amphetamine use and socio-ecological (proximal and distal) factors among school-going adolescents in four countries in the Caribbean and four countries in South America
  9. Gender differences in concussion-related knowledge, attitudes and reporting-behaviours among high school student-athletes
  10. Determinants of overweight and obesity among urban school-going children and adolescents: a case-control study in Bangladesh
  11. Addiction to the Internet and mobile phones and its relationship with loneliness in Iranian adolescents
  12. Prevalence and associated factors for social phobia among school-going adolescents in a rural area of Puducherry, South India
  13. Self-efficacy of osteoporosis preventive behaviors and its predictors in Iranian adolescents
  14. Prevalence of pediculosis and its related factors among primary school girls in the north of Iran
  15. Risk behaviors in adolescence – a study in a Portuguese health unit
  16. Statistical analysis for the impact of smoking on the behavior and health of Qatari adolescents
  17. Risk behaviors screening in Thai adolescents with acute and chronic illnesses
  18. Prenatal and early life origins of adolescence sleep problems: evidence from a birth cohort
  19. Intake of fruit, vegetables and milk products and correlates among school boys in Saudi Arabia
  20. Determinants of early marriage among female adolescent in Indonesia
  21. Social health needs of Iranian male adolescents
  22. Radiation and its associated health risks: assessment of knowledge and risk perception among adolescents and young adults in Saudi Arabia
  23. What does social media have to do with health? A case study of Bangkok youths
  24. Determining the development of syntax in typically-developing Indian adolescents using a syntactic analysis package
  25. Prevalence of traumatic injuries to the anterior teeth among 3–17-year-old school children of Indore and correlating it with Kuppuswamy SES, occlusal relationship and ascertaining percentage of those seeking the treatment
  26. Impaired dynamic thiol/disulfide homeostasis in pubertal gynecomastia
  27. Can upper limb taping or exercises improve hand function, writing speed and self-perception of performance in adolescent school children?
  28. Hemihyperplasia/hemihypertrophy in adolescents: prospective international study
  29. Depression in a sample of Tunisian adolescents: prevalence, associated factors and comorbidity with anxiety disorders
  30. Predictors of sexual function in pregnant Iranian adolescents
  31. Spiritual belief and its link with potentially addictive behaviors in a youth sample in Switzerland
  32. Short Communications
  33. Violence depicted in advertisements on LinkNYC kiosks in Manhattan, New York City
  34. Major food groups contributing to sodium intake in school-attending adolescents
Downloaded on 7.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/ijamh-2018-0059/html
Scroll to top button