Predicates in Kannada speaking normal children and with Intellectual Disability

Language acquisition is an everyday and yet magical feat of childhood. During the developmental period the language milestones emerge universally as a continuum across all the components in a predictable sequence, with amazing case unless on interference due to any sensory or motor deficits. Language is made up of socially shared rules that include what words mean. Components of the language are grouped under the ‘form’ (phonology, morphology, syntax) ‘content’ (semantics) and ‘use’ (pragmatics). Morpho-syntactic operations require a comprehending and use of correct word order and organisation in phrases and sentences like PNG markers, tense markers, plural markers, case markers, predicates etc. The study highlights the need to carry out more research in this area for better understanding of language acquisition among these children in order to develop both assessment and intervention programmes. Presently, the lack of acquisition data has hinged the development of any standardized test in Kannada. Hence, the present study aims to explore Predicates in Kannada speaking children with the objective of analysing the data among these children across 4 to 6 years of age. The results suggest that predicates are the part of language development that would come after 6 years.