@article{LCNL:38,
	author={Marc F. Joanisse and Mark S. Seidenberg},
	year={2003},
	title={Phonology and syntax in specific language impairment: Evidence from a connectionist model.},
	journal={Brain and Language},
	volume={86},
	pages={40-56},
	comments={This article presents computational modeling evidence linking a phonological deficit to impaired processing of an aspect of grammar, pronominal anaphora. The results provide a causal demonstration of how a perceptual deficit that affects phonological representation could have secondary effects on grammatical processing. This is consistent with the conclusion that "grammatical" deficits in SLI do not reflect anomalous development within grammatical modules but rather are sequelae of more basic information processing deficits.},
	abstract={Difficulties in resolving pronominal anaphora have been taken as evidence that Specific Language Impairment (SLI) involves a grammar-specific impairment. The present study explores an alternative view, that grammatical deficits in SLI are sequelae of impaired speech perception. This perceptual deficit specifically affects the use of phonological information in working memory, which in turn leads to poorer than expected syntactic comprehension. This hypothesis was explored using a connectionist model of sentence processing that learned to map sequences of words to their meanings. Anaphoric resolution was represented in this model by recognizing the semantics of the correct antecedent when a bound pronoun was input. When the model was trained on distorted phonological inputs—simulating a perceptual deficit—it exhibited marked difficulty resolving bound anaphors. However, many other aspects of sentence comprehension were intact; most importantly, the model could still resolve pronouns using gender information. In addition, the models deficit was graded rather than categorical, as it was able to resolve pronouns in some sentences, but not in others. These results are consistent with behavioral data concerning syntactic deficits in SLI. The model provides a causal demonstration of how a perceptual deficit could give rise to grammatical deficits in SLI.},
	language={English},
	URL={http://lcnl.wisc.edu/publications/archive/38.pdf},
}