06 - Why worry about complex syntax

What is complex syntax?

There is no single agreed-upon definition.

Can refer to complexity within phrases or complexity at the phrase level, or the clause level, e.g.

1. [ the big hair biker ] stroked [ the cute little purring kitten ]
   Sentence containing complex Noun Phrases (i.e. multiple words)
2. There's the cat [ that the dog chased _{Relative clause} ]
   Sentence containing a relative clause. The head of the relative clause is the Object of the verb chase (the cat), and this yields an odd word order: Object (cat), Subject (dog), Verb (chase). So it is complex in terms of having an odd word order.
3. The cat was chased by the dog.
   Sentence containing a passive. It is unusual because it has a PATIENT (cat) VERB AGENT (dog) word order. Like (2) it is complex in terms of its ordering, in this case the ordering of thematic roles / relations.

We have seen that complex syntactic constructions occur in language assessment materials, and are therefore good items for diagnosing language difficulties. But does complex syntax bear any relation to real life communication?

In which contexts does complex syntax occur?

Complex syntax in school texts

Have a look at these real passages from school text books (source: presentation by Marilyn Nippold at the RCLST)

1. "Botanists claim that [ some wildflowers, such as blazing stars, grow well in grasslands _{Clause in Od position} ]"
   Also the subject wildflowers is separated from the verb grow

2. "Most grasslands are populated by large herds of grazing animals, such as bison, [ a species of mammal native to the American prairies... _{?? reduced relative clause*} ] Millions of bison, commonly known as buffalo, once ranged over the American prairie, [ where they were preyed upon by wolves, coyotes, and humans _{Relative clause} ]" (Biggs et al., 2002, p. 83)
   Passives underlined. Phrases which separate subjects from verbs are shown in highlights. Dependent clauses are shown in brackets.
   * This doesn't look like a clause as it does not contain a verb. But you could rephrase it as ...bison, which are a species of mammal...

3. "Other important prairie animals include prairie dogs, [ which are seed-eating rodents [ that build underground "towns" [ known to stretch across mile after mile of grassland _{3 relative clauses nested inside each other!} ] ] ], and the foxes and ferrets [ that prey on them _{relative clause} ]." (Biggs et al, 2002, p. 83)

Complex syntax in the workplace

Complex texts are found in any job which involves understanding complex systems (Rose, 1989)

Complex syntax and expository discourse

Our language gets more complex when we start to talk about complex things, e.g. the rules of a game of football are more complex than the rules of a running race.

A discourse in which we describe a complex body of knowledge is called an `expository' discourse (exposition = explanation).

This can be compared with a `narrative' discourse (telling a story)

Good prompts for expository discourse

1. Tell me the rules of your favourite sport or game
2. How would you solve a particular conflict between peers? (Nippold et al. 2007)
3. Tell me what you learnt in school today.

An expository discourse example

Data taken from Nippold (2008)

Here are individuals describing their favourite team game. What kind of complex structures are being used?

1. You just try to get a team. It doesn't matter how many you need. You just got like six. Play three on three or something like that. And just get a football or something like a cup or something. And just play. Make a field and stuff.
   Lots of short sentences with no dependent clause. This is from a child who is either young or has language difficulgies
2. So [ if the line gets past the offensive line _{Adverbial clause}], the offensive line on the other hand can't just grab people [ and throw them out of their way _{Conjoined clause} ]. They have to push them. They can't just pick them up [ and throw them out _{Conjoined clause} ] [ because then they will be called for holding _{Adverbial clause} ], [ which is an illegal move _{Relative clause} ]. And you'll get penalized 5 yards for that.
   Multiple dependent clauses

Expository Discourse and Language Impairment

Language-impaired children eventually overcome grammatical errors, e.g. omission of verb endings.

But they find Expository Discourse very difficult in later childhood, due to difficulties with complex syntax.

Given importance of Expository Discourse, this will impact on their life opportunities.

Though expository discourse is difficult for language-impaired children, eliciting expository discourse does in fact lead to greater clausal complexity. This suggests that it might be beneficial to elicit expository discourse in clinical contexts. (But there is very little actual research on this)

Take home message:

When working on complex syntax with a client, consider the relationship between genre (e.g. expository versus conversational discourse) and complexity

Can particular genres be used to elicit and treat complex structures?

Ways to make complex structures easier

Keeping subjects and verbs together

1. The cow _Sub [ that chased the girl ] was_Verb big
2. Botanists claim that some wildflowers _Sub, $[$ such as blazing stars $]$, grow _Verb well in grasslands.

These sentences are relatively difficult as the subject is separated from the verb. (1) is especially difficult as (a) the Subject has a dual role, being the subject of both chase and be, and (b) it contains the string "the girl was big" which is confusing because it is the cow that is big.

Removing tense from dependent clauses

1. The dog (that was) chasing the cat was brown
   Removal of tensed verb was (plus that) makes sentence eaiser to understand.
2. The food (that is) eaten in Japan is absolutely delicious
   Removal of tensed verb is (plus that) makes sentence easier to understand.

Using pronouns inside dependent clauses

(adapted from Gibson, 1998)

1. The student who the professor who the scientist collaborated with had advised copied the article
2. The student who the professor who he collaborated with had advised copied the article

Use of pronoun he instead of Noun Phrase the scientist makes a massive difference to the interpretability of the sentence.

An important study by Kidd et al. (see Bibliography) found that young children found relative clauses much easier to produce when they contain a pronoun rather than a full noun phrase, e.g. The dog that he chased was brown, rather than the dog that the man chased was brown.

Making situations irreversible

A cow chasing a horse is a reversible situation, because you can swap the arguments around (e.g. a horse chasing a cow) and the situation will still be plausible. Complex sentences with reversible situations are easier to comprehend.

1. The cat that the dog chased was brown
   Quite hard to understand because the situation is reversible
2. The cheese that the mouse nibbled was mouldy
   Easier to understand because the situation is not reversible

Putting it all together!

There are many ways to manipulate complex sentences in clinic to make them easier / more difficult.

But how do you use this in treatment?

Do you start with complex structures?

Do you start with simple structures and make them complex?

There is little research on this, and opinions vary. A recent paper by van Horne argues that deliberately exposing children to complex input led to better learning (though she was looking at past tense morphology, rather than complex syntax)

Bibliography

Kidd, E., Brandt, S., Lieven, E., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Object relatives made easy: A cross-linguistic comparison of the constraints influencing young children’s processing of relative clauses. Language and Cognitive Processes, 22(6), 860–897.

Nippold, M. A. (2010). Explaining Complex Matters: How Knowledge of. Expository Discourse in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: Development and Disorders, 41.

Nippold, M. A., Hesketh, L. J., Duthie, J. K., \& Mansfield, T. C. (2005). Conversational versus expository discourse: A study of syntactic development in children, adolescents, and adults. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 48(5), 1048.

Nippold, M. A., Mansfield, T. C., \& Billow, J. L. (2007). Peer Conflict Explanations in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: Examining the Development of Complex Syntax. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 16(2), 179-188. https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360(2007/022)

Nippold, M. A., Mansfield, T. C., Billow, J. L., \& Tomblin, J. B. (2008). Expository discourse in adolescents with language impairments: Examining syntactic development. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 17(4), 356.

Nippold, M. A., \& Scott, C. M. (2010). Expository discourse in children, adolescents, and adults: Development and disorders. Taylor \& Francis US.

Van Horne, A. J. O., Fey, M., & Curran, M. (2017). Do the Hard Things First: A Randomized Controlled Trial Testing the Effects of Exemplar Selection on Generalization Following Therapy for Grammatical Morphology. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 60(9), 2569. https://doi.org/10.1044/2017_JSLHR-L-17-0001