How do French-speaking children with specific language impairment first mention a referent in storytelling? Between reference and grammar

• How French-speaking children with SLI take into account the degree of shared knowledge when first mentioning a referent.
• We both study linguistic units and their position in syntactic constructions used for first mentions.
• Children with SLI produce less appropriate first mentions than typical children.
• Children with SLI produce more left dislocations and less presentational constructions than typical children.
• Children with SLI present morphosyntactic and pragmatic deficit.

Young children have difficulty taking into account the degree of knowledge they share with their interlocutor when they first mention a new referent. This difficulty is especially pronounced for children with specific language impairment (SLI). The purpose of this study is to examine first mentions of referents in the storytelling productions of French-speaking children (ages 6–7 years, 8–9 years and 10–11 years), adopting a pragmatic and functional point of view. We study the linguistic units they use, the appropriateness of these expressions, and their position in syntactic constructions. The comparison of typical children and children with SLI shows both similarities and differences. Both populations use NPs more frequently than pronouns for the first mention of a referent. But children with SLI make significantly fewer appropriate first mentions, especially with non-informed interlocutors. These children also differ from TD children in how they use specific constructions (such as left dislocations and presentational constructions). These differences appear between 6 and 9 y.o.; at 10–11 y.o. children with SLI tend to perform similarly to TD children. The results are consistent with the hypothesis of a pragmatic and morphosyntactic deficit in children with SLI.