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A study of relative clauses in Williams syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2002

JULIA GRANT ,
VIRGINIA VALIAN  and
ANNETTE KARMILOFF-SMITH
JULIA GRANT
Affiliation:
Neurocognitive Development Unit, Institute of Child Health, London
VIRGINIA VALIAN
Affiliation:
Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center, New York
ANNETTE KARMILOFF-SMITH
Affiliation:
Neurocognitive Development Unit, Institute of Child Health, London
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Abstract

Despite growing empirical evidence to the contrary, claims continue to be made that the grammar of people with Williams syndrome (WS) is intact. We show that even in a simple elicited imitation task examining the syntax of relative clauses, older children and adults with WS (n = 14, mean age = 17;0 years) only reach the level of typical five-year-old controls. When tested systematically in a number of different laboratories, all aspects of WS language show delay and/or deviance throughout development. We conclude that the grammatical abilities of people with WS should be described in terms of relative rather than absolute proficiency, and that the syndrome should no longer be used to bolster claims about the existence of independently functioning, innately specified modules in the human brain.

Type
NOTE
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , May 2002 , pp. 403 - 416
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

This research was supported by MRC Programme Grant No. G9715642 and a grant from the Williams Syndrome Foundation to A. Karmiloff-Smith. We wish to thank the Williams Syndrome Foundation for their help in putting us in touch with the participants and their families, and the participants themselves for their time and enthusiastic cooperation.