Relational Meaning Encoded in the Two-Word Utterances of Stage 1 Down’s Syndrome Children

Abstract

This study explored the early two-word utterances from four Down’s syndrome children to determine if they encode the same relational meanings as children developing language normally. Nine semantic categories were established to classify the subject’s two-word constructions. Absolute and proportional frequencies of relational types were then used to analyze the relational meanings. The results reveal that this classification system accounts for a combined 79% of the two-word utterances expressed by these Down’s subjects. It is suggested that Down’s children demonstrate as much diversity in their use of relational meanings as normals at the same linguistic stage. These findings are discussed with respect to what Down’s children know about the world as they begin to produce two-word combinations.