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Projects

Projects the research group was involved in

Aphasia and Oral Text Production

The project Aphasia and Oral Text Production (2008-2012) had two main objectives:

  • to improve our knowledge of the language difficulties associated with aphasia in Norwegian with a particular focus on spoken discourse production
  • to establish normative data on spoken discourse production, thus facilitating the use of a standard picture description task in aphasia assessments

About the project

Oral texts, such as narratives, descriptions and conversations, are the basic units of human communication. The production of coherent texts is, however, often challenging for speakers with aphasia, due to their difficulties in the use of lexico-grammatical resources. The oral text production by speakers with aphasia may thus be informative of general psycholinguistic issues, such as representations and processes in the mental lexicon.  

In language rehabilitation, comprehensive assessment of language and communication abilities is important. One of the outcomes of this project is a set of principled guidelines for the systematic assessment of spoken discourse production by speakers with aphasia.

Project group

  • Postdoktor Marianne Lind (project manager)
  • Professor Kristian Emil Kristoffersen
  • Professor Inger Moen
  • Professor Hanne Gram Simonsen

Collaborators

  • Speech and language therapist (Logoped MNLL), Senior Adviser Line Haaland-Johansen (Bredtvet Resource Center)
  • Speech and language therapist (Logoped MNLL), Adviser Ingvild Røste (Bredtvet Resource Center)
  • Speech and language therapist (Logoped MNLL), PhD candidate Monica Knoph (Bredtvet Resource Center/Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies)
  • Professor Anna-Maija Korpijaakko-Huuhka (University of Tampere)
  • Speech and language therapist (Logoped MNLL), PhD Melanie Kirmess (Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital/Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo)
  • Eli Anne Eiesland (ILN, UiO)

Publications

  • Eiesland, Eli Anne & Lind, Marianne (2012). Compound nouns in spoken language production by speakers with aphasia compared to neurologically healthy speakers: An exploratory study. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 26, 232-254.
  • Korpijaakko-Huuhka, Anne-Maija & Lind, Marianne (2012). The impact of aphasia on textual coherence: Evidence from two typologically different languages. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders, 3 (1), 47-70.
  • Kirmess, Melanie & Lind, Marianne (2011). Spoken language production as outcome measurement following constraint induced language therapy. Aphasiology, 25 (10), 1207-1238.
  • Lind, Marianne; Kristoffersen, Kristian Emil; Moen, Inger & Simonsen, Hanne Gram (2010). Oral Language: What is Normal? Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 6, 109-110.
  • Lind, Marianne; Kristoffersen, Kristian Emil; Moen, Inger & Simonsen, Hanne Gram (2009). Semi-spontaneous oral text production: Measurements in clinical practice. Clinical linguistics & phonetics, 23, 872-88.

Consonant Clusters in 2-4 Year-olds

The project investigates the acquisition of word initial consonant clusters in 2-4 year old Norwegian-speaking children.


The project is concerned with the acquisition of word initial consonant clusters with and without /s/ in words like smokk 'pacifier', sko 'shoe', grønn 'green', and blå 'blue' in 2-4 year old children acquiring Norwegian.

The project focuses particularly on error patterns. Earlier studies of children's acquisition of consonant clusters in other languages have identified several trends of development in the acquisition of consonant clusters cross-linguistically.

We take a closer look at some of these trends in order to place Norwegian in a larger, cross-linguistic picture. In addition, we make use of articulatory phonology as a tool for a better understanding of the error patterns.
 

Leader of the project

  • Professor Hanne Gram Simonsen

Other participants

  • Professor Kristian E. Kristoffersen
  • Postdoctoral fellow Nina Gram Garmann

Publications

  • Kristoffersen, Kristian Emil & Simonsen, Hanne Gram 2006. The acquisition of #sC-clusters in Norwegian.
  • Journal of Multilingual Communication Disorders 4.(3), p. 231-241.
  • Yavas, Mehmet; Ben-David, Avivit; Gerrits, Ellen; Kristoffersen, Kristian Emil & Simonsen, Hanne Gram 2008.
  • Sonority and cross-linguistic acquisition of initial s-clusters. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 22, p. 421-441.

Cri du chat syndrome: an investigation of linguistic skills

The focus of this project is on phonological, lexical and grammatical skills in persons with CdCS.

About the project

Cri du chat syndrome (CdCS) is a rare, congenital condition resulting from loss of genetic material on the short arm of chromosome 5. The condition expresses itself through characteristic, high-pitched crying in infancy, and often specific facial features. Furthermore, the syndrome causes moderate to severe mental retardation. In addition, persons with CdCS usually show poor speech development and impaired fine and gross motor skills. In most cases the condition occurs spontaneously, but in 10-15 % of the cases it is hereditary. In Norway, approximately one child is born with CdCS per year.



  • Project leader: Professor Kristian Emil Kristoffersen
  • Participants: Nina Gram Garmann, Hanne Gram Simonsen, Kristin Wium and Sonja Erlenkamp.

Publications

  • Kristoffersen, K. E., Garmann, N. G., & Simonsen, H. G. (2014). Consonant production and intelligibility in cri du chat syndrome. Clinical linguistics & phonetics, (0), 1-16.
  • Kristoffersen, K. E. (2012). Inflectional morphology in cri du chat syndrome-A case study. Clinical linguistics & phonetics, 26(2), 120-134.
  • Kristoffersen, K. E. (2012). Inflectional morphology in cri du chat syndrome-A case study. Clinical linguistics & phonetics, 26(2), 120-134.
  • Erlenkamp, S., & Kristoffersen, K. E. (2010). Sign communication in Cri du chat syndrome. Journal of communication disorders, 43(3), 225-251.
  • Kristoffersen, K. E. (2009). Grammatical constructions in Cri du chat syndrome-Findings from a case study. Clinical linguistics & phonetics, 23(12), 858-871.
  • Kristoffersen, K. E. (2008). Speech and language development in cri du chat syndrome: A critical review. Clinical linguistics & phonetics, 22(6), 443-457.
  • Kristoffersen, K. E. (2008). Consonants in Cri du chat syndrome: A case study.Journal of communication disorders, 41(3), 179-202.
  • Wium, K., & Kristoffersen, K. E. (2008). Past tense morphology in Cri du chat syndrome: experimental evidence. Clinical linguistics & phonetics, 22(4-5), 401-406.
  • Kristoffersen, K. E. (2005). Vowel productions in the speech of three children with cri du chat syndrome. Journal of Multilingual Communication Disorders,3(2), 128-135.
  • Kristoffersen, K. E. (2003). Development of consonants and vowels in a child with cri du chat syndrome. Journal of Multilingual communication disorders,1(3), 194-200.

Imageability of Norwegian Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives

Imageability is defined as the ease with one can form a mental image or a mental conception of what a word refers to.


Some words - like many concrete nouns - immediately give us a clear conception when hearing them, while other words - for example, more abstract nouns, verbs and adjectives - may not give rise to any mental conception at all.

Language processing

Imageability is a factor believed to affect language processing, in line with, among other things, word frequency and word length. Imageability is therefore a factor often included in  psycholinguistic studies.

Knowledge of how most people rate the degree of imageability for  different words is often established through questionnaires. Such ratings have been conducted for English and German, among other languages, but for Norwegian there is still a lack of imageability standards.

Pilot study

The goal of this project is to establish standards of imageability for approximately 1 500 Norwegian nouns, verbs and adjectives.
A pilot study was carried out in the spring of 2011, and the results were presented at the Second Nordic Conference of Clinical Linguistics.
 

Project managers

  • Hanne Gram Simonsen
  • Marianne Lind


Project team members

  • Pernille Hansen
  • Elisabeth Holm

Norwegian children's first words

In the project Norwegian children's first words we examine the words Norwegian children learn first.

About the project

We examine the words which are most likely that Norwegian children learn first, and examine the phonological properties of these words. We have found that Norwegian children learn an equal proportion of monosyllables as well as bisyllables, and that many of the words start with a bilabial / b, p, m /. The reason that many children learn words beginning with bilabial early may be that they are visible to the child, and that it is relatively easy to produce these sounds.

Here are the first ten words Norwegian children learn:

1. mamma 'mom'

2. hei 'hello'

3. brr (car sound)

4. pappa 'dad'

5. nam-nam 'yummy'

6. nei 'no'

7. ha det 'bye-bye'

8. bæ (sheep sound)

9. takk 'thanks'

10. voff-voff (dog sound)

We compared the Norwegian first words with first words in Danish, Swedish, English and Italian. All children learn words beginning with bilabial early, but it varies with the language how long words children learn. We also compared children's language with adult language. We found that children use more words beginning with bilabial and shorter words than adults, and that adults when talking to children also use more words beginning with bilabial and shorter words than when talking to adults.

The project has been popular in the media, and the research project has inspired a choreograph to make a ballet for children under three years. La la Pop av Inger Cecilie Bertrán de Lis.

  • Contact: Nina Gram Garmann, Oslo University College and Multiling
  • Participants: Pernille Hansen, Hanne Gram Simonsen and Kristian E. Kristoffersen

Norwegian Words

A psycholinguistic database

Norwegian words is a a searchable lexical database containing approximately 1650 Norwegian nouns, verbs and adjectives. On this website you will find information about different properties that can affect acquisition, storage and processing of these words in speakers with and without speech and language difficulties.

All the words we know are stored in our brain, and we access them every time we talk, listen, read or write.

Words have many different characteristics, both in terms of form and content. Examples of such characteristics include word length, word structure, imageability, and usage frequency. These and other characteristics affect both language acquisition, how early children learn different words, and language usage, how easy or hard it is for us to find the right words when we need them. Due to both linguistic and cultural differences, these properties are language specific.

Norwegian Words is a searchable lexical database containing approximately 1600 Norwegian words (900 nouns, 500 verbs and 200 adjectives), accessible through both a Norwegian and an English interface. For each word you can get information about characteristics that are known to affect language acquisition, storage and processing of words in populations both with and without speech and language impairments.

The information in the data base may be useful for scientists, practitioners and students  within different diciplins, such as linguistics, psychology and speech language therapy. You may search for single words, find words that share a set of properties, or look up properties of interest for words from a certain assessment tool.

The Norwegian interface, Ordforrådet, was launched on the 7th of February 2013. In 2014 we added an English interface to facilitate cross-linguistic research. An English translation is given for each word, and descriptions and instructions are available in English.

Norwegian Words is developed by the Research Group in Clinical Linguistics and Language Acquisition at the Department of Linguistic and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo. This database can be used freely for non-commercial purposes. All requests should be directed to Hanne Gram Simonsen.

Go to Norwegian Words (tekstlab.uio.no)

Properties

Norwegian Words  offers information on the following word properties:

  • Imageability
  • Subjective age of acquisition
  • Usage frequency
  • Phonological neighbourhood density
  • Sound structure
  • Word length
  • Word structure
  • Word class
  • Word class specific properties

Research

  • Lind, M., Simonsen, H.G., Hansen, P., Holm, E. og Mevik, B.-H. (2013). ”Ordforrådet” – en leksikalsk database over et utvalg norske ord. Norsk Tidsskrift for Logopedi, årgang 59, nr 1, s. 18-26.
  • Simonsen, H.G., Lind, M., Hansen, P., Holm, E. og Mevik, B.H. (2013) Imageability of Norwegian nouns, verbs and adjectives in a cross-linguistic perspective. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics.

Phonological Development in Norwegian Children 14-25 Months

The project explores the very earliest language development in young children acquiring Norwegian.


About the project

The project follows four girls and four boys from they are 14 months and for a period of one year in order to investigate the very earliest language development in young children acquiring Norwegian. The children are videotaped, and the audio files are transcribed in Phon.

The main objective of the study is to survey the variation in children's earliest phonological and lexical development, and poses questions like: Which words do they acquire first? Do the first words follow any phonological patterns? Read more about Norwegian children's first words. 

The second objective is to determine whether there is a connection between young children's babbling and their first words. Some believe that children choose their first words based on what they are able to say, and that children acquire words that follow a certain phonological pattern before others.

The Norwegian findings will be compared with findings from other languages, e.g. English, Italian, French and Arabic.

Responsible for the project is associated professor at Oslo University College Nina Gram Garmann.

The webpages "Språkvansker"

The main purpose of the project “Språkvansker” was to make research within clinical linguistics and language acquisition accessible to stakeholders and to the general public.

Relevant target groups for the dissemination were people with language disorders and their relatives, and professionals in the public services who work with language acquisition in children and with people with language disorders.

About the project

The aim of the project was to make research within clinical linguistics and language acquisition accessible to a non-academic audience. Clinical linguistics is the study of how language is affected by illness and injury.

Relevant target groups for the project were people with language disorders and their relatives, and professionals in the public services who work with language acquisition in children, and with people with language disorders.

The project was a collaboration between the Aphasia associaton in Norway, the Association for Parents of Children with Language Disorders, Frambu National Center for Rare Disorders and Disabilities, Møller Resource Center, The Norwegian Association of Speech and Language Therapists, Bredtvet Resource Center, and the Clinical Linguistics and Language Acquisition Research Group at the University of Oslo.

The project resulted in the website "Språkvansker", with information about language disorders, normal and delayed language development, assessment tools for typical and atypical language development and language proficiency, and relevant data sources.  The project was funded by the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo.



Project leader: Professor Kristian Emil Kristoffersen

Use of EPG in Clinical Practice, and Use of Manometers for Measuring Intraoral Air Pressure

Development of technology for measuring the function of the speech organs during different types of articulation.

About the project

In an ongoing research project "Electronic database of Norwegian speech sounds (vowels and consonants)" (NFR project no. 141164/520), we have made measurements of the speech organs'  function during different types of articulation. In these studies, we have made use of recording equipment such as EPG (electropalatography), EMA (electromagnetic articulography), laryngography, equipment for measuring intraoral air pressure, and equipment for measuring oral and nasal air flow. These instruments have made it possible to perform objective measurements of articulation.

We have, however, seen that current technology should be further developed in order to provide even more reliable recordings. We will cooperate with a group at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Oslo about further development of manometers, and with groups at the University of Queensland, Australia, and Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, about further development and clinical use of EPG. Our goal is to become a national resource center for the clinical use of phonetic equipment.

Researchers

  • Professor Inger Moen
  • Professor Hanne Gram Simonsen

 

More projects associated with the group

 

Published Mar. 18, 2024 2:20 PM - Last modified Mar. 18, 2024 2:26 PM