Perfective – imperfective: Development of aspectual distinctions in Greek specific language impairment*

Tense morphology has been found to be cross-linguistically vulnerable in specific language impairment (SLI). Research on the development of aspect is rather limited and results are quite inconsistent; some studies suggest that aspect appears intact (Leonard et al. 2003), while others report severe deficits (Fletcher et al. 2005). The present study is the first one to examine the comprehension and production of aspectual distinctions in Greek SLI. Forty children participated in the study; eight children with SLI (mean age: 6;7), sixteen age-matched typically developing children (mean age: 6;6) and sixteen language-matched typically developing children (mean age: 4;5). Our results provide evidence that the development of aspectual distinctions in Greek SLI seems to be delayed rather than deviant, as it follows the asymmetrical pattern described for earlier stages of typical development; perfective aspect is fully acquired, whereas interpretation of imperfective aspect is still inadequate (Kazanina & Phillips 2003; van Hout 2005).