Abstract：
Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) are characterised by impaired language abilities both in comprehension and production. Complex syntax is a specific domain which is often considered challenging for children with DLD. Research regarding complex syntax is mostly concerned with the production patterns of speakers and usually employs English-speaking populations. This scoping review aims to systematically map the abilities of non-English-speaking children with DLD to comprehend complex syntactic structures, comparing these results with the broader literature on English-speaking children with DLD. It also aims to consider the account (i.e. grammatical vs processing) by which these abilities can be explained. Four online databases were used to extract original research articles published between 2011 and 2021. Of the 264 studies initially identified, 20 studies were included in the review. The results demonstrated that children with DLD present with difficulties in comprehending object relative clauses, wh-questions, sentences with non-canonical word order, passives, and other types of complex syntax. All of these challenges are also evident in English-speaking children with DLD and can be mainly attributed either to the inability of children to assign thematic roles, their restricted working memory capacities, or a combination thereof. It is concluded that the comprehension of complex syntax might be a universal marker of DLD, which can be explained on the basis of either a grammatical or a processing account, or both. Common challenges in certain structures across languages can be used to design a comprehension assessment tool that can be applied in several languages.
摘要：
患有发育性语言障碍（DLD）的儿童的特征是理解能力和生产能力均受损。复杂语法是一个特定领域，通常被认为对DLD儿童具有挑战性。有关复杂句法的研究主要关注说话者的生产模式，通常采用讲英语的人群。此范围审查旨在系统地绘制DLD非英语儿童理解复杂句法结构的能力，将这些结果与更广泛的有关DLD的英语儿童的文献进行比较。它还旨在考虑可以解释这些能力的帐户（即语法与处理）。四个在线数据库用于提取2011年至2021年之间发表的原始研究文章。在最初确定的264项研究中，20项研究纳入审查。结果表明，患有DLD的儿童在理解对象相对从句方面存在困难，wh-questions,具有非规范词序的句子，被动,和其他类型的复杂语法。所有这些挑战在说英语的DLD儿童中也很明显，主要归因于儿童无法分配主题角色，他们有限的工作记忆能力，或其组合。结论是，对复杂语法的理解可能是DLD的通用标记。可以根据语法或处理帐户来解释，或者两者兼而有之。跨语言的某些结构中的常见挑战可用于设计可应用于多种语言的理解评估工具。
