language development; grammar; linguistics; constructivism; specific language impairment
Résumé :
[en] The Construction and Usage-based Theory (CUT) combines two main approaches drawn
from cognitive linguistics: construction grammar and usage-based theory. The CUT emphasizes
the fact that language structures progressively emerge through the use of general
cognitive processes. Most new forms produced by a child are built upon his/her own previous
productions that he/she complexifies and generalizes to construct more abstract
forms. These hypotheses have been tested with normally-developing children but have not
yet been tested on children with specific language impairment (SLI). In this paper, we put
forward several hypotheses drawn from constructivistic approaches to explain morphosyntactic
difficulties displayed by children with SLI. Their goal is to create a theoretical framework
for future behavioral studies.
