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We report on object and action picture-naming accuracy in two groups of bilectal speakers in Cyprus, children with typical language development (TLD) and children with specific language impairment (SLI). Object names were overall better retrieved than action names by both groups. Given that comprehension for action names was relatively intact for all children, this finding is taken to be the result of a breakdown at the interface of the semantic lexicon and phonological representations, or access to them. The results complement similar research on English, a minimally inflected language in contrast to Greek. Overall, cross-linguistic word class effects provide strong evidence for the hypothesis that grammatical category is an organizing principle shared across languages. Finally, our results suggest that bilectal children with SLI present with general lexical delay rather than a deficit in verb naming per se. © Cambridge University Press 2013. 17 1 169 188 Cited By :8; Export Date: 19 July 2017

Against the background of the increasing number of multilingual children with atypical language development around the world, this study reports research results on grammatical word class processing involving children with specific language impairment (SLI). The study investigates lexical retrieval of verbs (through picture-naming actions) and compares performances for the same children with noun retrieval (through picture-naming objects). It was found that nouns (object names) were better retrieved than verbs (action names) in the multilingual group with SLI, a finding similar to bilectal peers with SLI and typically developing language-matched controls. The results suggest that grammatical class is an organising principle shared across languages. Moreover, when tested in first and third language, multilingual children with SLI revealed a comparable verb-noun dissociation both in terms of the direction of the effect (V < N) and major error type. These findings are discussed in relation to the delayed acquisition hypothesis for SLI and psycholinguistic models of multilingualism. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. 10 1 60 81 Cited By :9; Export Date: 19 July 2017

This paper investigates different facets of the second language acquisition of Modern Greek by native speakers of Russian and Georgian, both adults and children, in the domain of aspectual marking in embedded clauses. The study investigates experimentally the interaction of lexical and grammatical aspect in those embedded sentential environments which are a locus of difference between Modern Greek and Russian: The former permits only perfective aspect of the finite complement verb in the context under consideration, while the latter allows either perfective or imperfective aspect of the infinitival complement verb. The results of the experimental study reveal that L2 learners can reach native-like attainment, though there is L1 interference at the initial stage of L2 acquisition, thus providing evidence in support of the Full Transfer/Full Access Hypothesis. The large number of participants and the different groups investigated further allow us to distinguish other variables relevant for L2 acquisition, such as age of onset, length of residence, and so on, which were gathered through a detailed language history questionnaire. The results are interpreted statistically for all relevant facets of the languages and participants involved, shedding some light on a number of intertwined issues involved in (early vs. late) L2/L3 acquisition. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012. 11 41 62 Cited By :1

Different temporal forms can be used to describe one temporal relation (IT: camminava vs. camminò, walk-past- imperfective vs. walk-past-perfective) ; one form can be used to describe different temporal relations (D: life, walk-past- imperfective vs. walk-past-perfective) ; these relations concern objects not directly perceivable. This can make their acquisition a complicated task. We tested 355 children, 5 years-old, on tense comprehension in 17 languages. Participants watched movies where a protagonist walks along a road performing the same action at different locations (Wagner 2001). The test-questions were of the form: Where V-past? ; Where V-present? ; Where V-future? We found differences across languages (χ2(16)=100.14, p