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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/24590

Title

Theme analysis of narratives produced by children with and without Specific Language Impairment

Author/Creator

Thomson, Julie Ann

Description

Theme is defined within the Systemic-Functional Linguistics framework as the point of the departure for the clause and therefore important for text organisation. Aspects of theme are examined in the elicited narratives and story retells from a group of 25 5-8 year-old children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and a group of 25 age-matched children with Typically Developing Language. The analysis indicated that subjects with SLI used less variety and complexity in themes with more than one element but this is suggested to reflect localised lexicogrammatical problems. Analysis of the aspects of theme which are more reliant on text-level resources, namely marked theme and theme progression patterns, yielded equivocal results. No significant inter-group difference was found in the subjects' representation of marked Theme and only one of the two progression patterns showed a significant difference. These findings are discussed in relation to the theoretical implications for the description of narrative abilities in SLI.

Relation

Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics Vol. 19, no. 3, p. 175-190

Date

2005

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Keyword(s)

narrative analysis;  theme;  Specific Language Impairment;  4 year olds;  discourse

Resource Type

journal article

Identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/24590

Identifier

ISSN:1464-5076

Language

eng

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Subject

"Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics"

 

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