Possible loci of SLI from a both linguistic and psycholinguistic perspective

Possible loci of SLI (Specific Language Impairment) are identified on the basis of an integrative view of language processing and acquisition which incorporates minimalist assumptions and results from the psycholinguistic research on language acquisition and processing. Four loci of SLI are suggested, which enable degrees of severity of language impairment to be predicted. They lay either on the conduction of on-line computation or in the very process of identification of formal features. Criteria for further refinement of the latter are created in the light of a procedural view of language acquisition according to which the initialization of a linguistic computational system on the basis of the perception of closed class elements corresponding to functional categories is viewed as crucial for normal language development. SLI data available in the literature is mapped against the predictions stemming from this integrated view of language.