Production and Comprehension of Verb Morphology in Saudi Arabic- Speaking Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder Aged 4;0 to 6;11

Abstract

Developmental language disorder (DLD) manifests differently across languages, with grammatical deficits varying based on linguistic typology. However, research on the impact of DLD on the acquisition of morphology in languages spoken in the global south, such as Arabic, remains limited. This study investigates verb morphology difficulties in comprehension and production among Saudi Arabic-speaking children with DLD compared to their typically developing (TD) peers. Sixty-seven Saudi Arabic-speaking children participated in this study. Verb morphology was assessed through a picture-naming task for production and a picture-selection task for comprehension. Both tasks examined verb inflections for tense (past, present, future) and subject-verb gender agreement (feminine, masculine) and number (singular, plural). Children with DLD scored significantly lower than their TD peers in comprehension and production of verb morphology. Both groups scored higher in production than comprehension for number agreement. However, children with DLD demonstrated comparable performance across production and comprehension for gender agreement and tense. The findings revealed distinct patterns across linguistic features. In gender agreement, feminine verbs posed the greatest challenge in production, whereas masculine verbs were the most difficult in comprehension. For number agreement, plural verbs were the most challenging in production, while singular verbs were the most difficult in comprehension. Future tense presented the greatest difficulty across tasks, marking the first investigation of future tense morphology in Arabic DLD research. This study is the first to investigate verb morphology comprehension in Arabic-speaking children with DLD and compare it to production within the same sample. The findings extend our understanding of DLD mechanisms, suggesting that language difficulties of Arabic-speaking children with DLD stem from combined deficits in linguistic knowledge and processing capacity. By addressing key gaps in Arabic DLD research, this study lays a foundation for further investigations and provides insights for clinicians and educators in developing targeted assessments and interventions.