Profiles of grammatical morphology in Spanish-speaking adolescents with Williams syndrome

Abstract

This chapter presents a comparative perspective on the morphological profiles of Williams Syndrome (WS) and Down Syndrome (DS). The initial research described these neurodevelopmental disorders as cases of specific preservation and delay of grammar, respectively, whereas later approaches have challenged such assumptions. The present study aimed to contribute to this discussion with data from 18 Spanish-speaking adolescents in three groups (WS, DS and typical development). Spontaneous speech was analysed with the tools of the CHILDES Project, transcribing and coding the parts of speech and morphological errors. While errors are less frequent in WS than in DS, their type and distribution remain atypical in both syndromes which points towards differential trajectories of language development.