Understanding Literate Language: Developmental and Clinical Issues

Purpose: Literate language is characterized by a denser, more specified lexicon and more complex syntactic forms than oral language. The development and use of literate language has been strongly linked to reading and academic success. This article seeks to (a) provide a comprehensive review of the literature on literate language feature development, (b) detail clinical implications, and (c) suggest directions for future study. Method: The methodology used in this article includes a review of historical and current publications address- ing literate language and literate language features. This review presents the linguistic forms that are typically identified as literate language, summarizes influences on the development of literate language, discusses the clinical use of literate language analysis, and suggests directions for future study. Conclusion: The analysis of literate language develop- ment is an important area of study for clinicians who are working with children who are at risk for reading dif- ficulties and subsequent academic failure. The author rec- ommends further research to explore the exact nature of the relation of literate language to reading and academic success and to examine the relation of literate language measures to global measures of semantic and syntactic language.