Prof. Susan Curtiss Department of Linguistics UCLA 3125 Campbell Hall Los Angeles CA 90095-1543

Susan Curtiss' main fields of interest fall within psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics. Her work is focused in four areas. First, she studies grammatical development in children with SLI and the ways and reasons why it differs from grammatical development in normally developing children. This work has found considerable overlap with normal children in the patterns and "stages" of grammatical development alongside impaired auditory processing mechanisms which slow and impede linguistic growth. Second, she is interesed in maturational constraints on first language development ("Critical period" effects), and her work indicates that the greatest effects are on syntax and syntactically-driven morphology and that these effects increase with age at acquisition. Third, her work on hemispheric specialization for language and language acquisition has found surprising similarities in linguistic performance in different clinical types of adult acquired aphasias, and in children, significant delays and impairments in language development after damage to both hemispheres. Fourth, her work on the modularity of grammar has resulted in empirical evidence that grammar is a distinct cognitive module in development and adulthood.

Selected Publications

          2015

• S. Curtiss. The Case of Chelsea. pdf

          2014

• Polczynska, M., Curtiss, S.,  Walshaw, P., Siddartha, P., Benjamin, C., Moseley, BD., Vigil, C., Jones, M., Eliashiv, D. and S, bookheimer. Grammar tests increase the ability to lateralize language function in the Wada test. Epilepsy Res. 108, (10), 1865-1873.  pdf

          2013

• S. Curtiss and J. Yamada. The Curtiss-Yamada Comprehensive Language Evaluation for Neurosurgy (The CYCLE-N)
• Curtiss, S. 2013. Revisiting modularity: Using language as a window to the mind. In M. Piatelli-Palmarini and R.C. Berwick (Eds.) Rich Languages from Poor Inputs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 68-90. pdf Appendix including descriptions of tests pdf

  2005

• Curtiss, S. and Schaeffer, J. 2005. Syntactic development in children with hemispherectomy: The I-, D-, and C-systems. Brain and Language, vol. 94, 2, 147-66. pdf

  2004

• Curtiss, S., MacSwan, J., Schaeffer, J., Kural, M. and Sano, T. 2004. GCS: A grammatical coding system for natural language data. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, vol. 3, 459-480. pdf
• Curtiss, S., MacSwan, J., Schaeffer, J., Kural, M. and Sano, T. 2004. GCS: A grammatical coding system manual. pdf
• Grinstead, J., MacSwan, J., Curtiss, S., and Gelman, R. 2004. The independence of language and number. pdf

  2003

• Curtiss, S. and de Bode, S. 2003. How normal is grammtical development in the right hemisphere following hemispherectomy? The root infinitive stage and beyond. Brain and Language, vol. 86, 193-206. pdf
• Gilkerson, J., Hyams, N., and Curtiss, S. 2003. On the scope of negation: More evidence for early parameter setting. To appear in Proceedings of Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition. Utrecht, The Netherlands. pdf

  2002

• Gilkerson, J., Hyams, N., and Curtiss, S. 2002. 'No I Understand Negation': A preferential looking paradigm study of early knowledge of sentential and anaphoric negation. pdf

  2001

• Curtiss, S., de Bode, S., and Mathern, G.W. 2001. Spoken language outocmes after hemispherectomy: Factoring in etiology. Brain and Language, vol. 79, 3, 379-96. pdf

  2000

• de Bode, S. and Curtiss. S. 2000. Language after hemispherectomy. Brain and Cognition, vol. 43, 135-205. pdf
• de Bode, S. and Curtiss, S. 2000. How the brain copes with a phantom hemisphere and supports language development. In Proceedings of the 24th Annual BUCLD, vol. 1, 232-41. pdf
• Curtiss, S. 2000. Acquisition of word and sentence structure. In V. Fromkin (Ed.) Linguistics: An Introduction to Linguistic Theory. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing. pdf

  1999

• Curtiss, S. and de Bode, S. 1999. Age and etiology as predictors of language outcome following hemispherectomy. Developmental Neuroscience, vol. 21, 174-181. pdf
• de Bode, S. and Curtiss, S. 1999. Neurobiological mechanisms of language acquisition in Sturge Weber Syndrome. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual BUCLD, vol. 1, 150-161. pdf

  1998

• Grinstead, J., MacSwan, J., Curtiss, S. and Gelman, R. 1998. The independence of language and number. Proceedings of the 22nd Annual BUCLD, vol. 1, 303-313. pdf
• Curtiss, S. and de Bode, S. 1998. Language outcomes for hemispherectomized children. Proceedings of the 22nd Annual BUCLD, vol. 1, 121-133. pdf

  1996

• Caplan, R., Curtiss, S., Chugani, H. and Vinters, H.V. 1996. Pediatric Rasmussen Encephalitis: Social communication, language, PET, and pathology before and after hemispherectomy. Brain and Cognition, 32, 45-66. pdf

  1995

• Curtiss, S. 1995. Language as a cognitive system. In N. Chomsky (Ed.) Critical Assessment. Routledge, 211-255. pdf

  1992

• Curtiss, S., Katz, W. and Tallal, P. 1992. Delay versus deviance in the language acquisition of normal and language-impaired children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, vol. 35, 2, 373-383. pdf
• Katz, W., Tallal, P., and Curtiss, S. 1992. Rapid automatized naming and gesture by normal and language-impaired children. Brain and Language, vol. 43. 623-641. pdf

  1991

• Kempler, D., Curtiss, S., Metter, E.J., Jackson, C.A., and Hanson, W.R. 1991. Grammatical comprehension, aphasic syndromes and neuroimaging. Journal of Neurolinguistics, vol. 6, 3, 301-318. pdf
• Tallal, P., Townsend, J., Curtiss, S. and Wulfeck, B. 1991. Phenotypic profiles of language. Brain and Language, vol. 41, 81-95. pdf

  1990

• Curtiss, S. 1990. What happens if you are raised without language?. pdf

  1989

• Tallal, P., Ross, R. and Curtiss, S. 1989. Familial aggregation in Specific Language Impairment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, vol. 54, 167-173. pdf
• Tallal, P., Ross, R. and Curtiss, S. 1989. Unexpected sex-ratios in families with language learning-impaired children. Neuropsychologia, vol. 27, 7, 987-998. pdf

  1988

• Curtiss, S. 1988. Abnormal language acquisition. In F.J. Newmeyer (Ed.) Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey, Volume II Linguistic Theory: Extensions and Implications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 96-116. pdf
• Jackson, C.A., Kempler, D., Hanson, W.R., Curtiss, S., Metter, E.J. and Van Lancker, D. 1988. Syntactic facility in fluent aphasia. In T. Prescott (Ed.), Clinical Aphasiology, 1988 (Conference on Clinical Aphasiology//Clinical Aphasiology). Cape Cod, MA: College Hill Press, 357-367. pdf
• Tallal, P., Curtiss, S. and Kaplan, R. Curtiss, S. 1988. The San Diego Longitudinal Study. In S.E. Gerber & G.T. Mencher (Eds.) International Perspectives on Communication Disorders. Washington D.C.: Gallaudet University Press, 86-126. pdf

  1987

• Curtiss, S. 1987. Interagency committee on learning disabilities report to the U.S. Congress: Developmental language disorders pdf
• Kempler, D., Curtiss, S. and Jackson, C. 1987. Syntactic preservation in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, vol. 30, 343-350. pdf

  1986

• Curtiss, S., Jackson, C.A., Kempler, D., Hanson, W.R. and Metter, E.J. 1986. Length vs. structural complexity in sentence comprehension in aphasia. Clinical Aphasiology, vol. 16, 45-55. pdf

  1985

• Curtiss, S. 1985. The development of human cerebral lateralization. In D. Frank Benson and E. Zaidel (Eds.) The Dual Brain. New York, NY: The Guillford Press, 97-116. pdf

  1983

• Curtiss, S. 1983. Genie. In Reynolds, C.R. and Fletcher-Janzen, E. (Eds.) Concise Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of the Handicapped and Other Exceptional Children and Adults. New York: NY, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 709-710. pdf

  1982

• Curtiss, S. 1982. Developmental dissociations of language and cognition. In L. Obler and L. Menn (Eds.) Exceptional Language and Linguistics (Perspectives in Neurolinguistics, Neuropsychology, and Psycholinguistics). New York, NY: Academic Press, 285-312. pdf
• Curtiss, S. 1982. The special talent of grammar acquisition. In L. Obler and L. Menn (Eds.) Exceptional Language and Linguistics (Perspectives in Neurolinguistics, Neuropsychology, and Psycholinguistics). New York, NY: Academic Press, 364-386. pdf

  1981

• Curtiss, S. 1981. Dissociations between language and cognition. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 11, 1, 15-30. pdf

  1979

• Curtiss, S., Prutting, C.A. and Lowell, E.L. 1979. Pragmatic and semantic development in young children with impaired hearing. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, vol. 22, 534-552. pdf

  1978

• Curtiss, S. 1978. A New "Wild Child"? [Review of the book The Wild Boy of Burundi: A Study of an Outcase Child by H. Lane & R. Pillard]. Contemporary Psychology, vol. 25, 4, 337. pdf
• Curtiss, S., Fromkin, V.A. and Krashen, S.D. 1978. Language development in the mature (minor) right hemisphere. ITL: Review of Applied Linguistics 39-40, 23-37. pdf

  1975

• Curtiss, S., Fromkin, V., Rigler, D., Riger, M. and Krashen, S. 1975. An update on the linguistic development of Genie. In Dato, D.P. (Ed.) Developmental Psycholinguistics: Theory and Applications. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 145-153. pdf

  1974

• Curtiss, S., Fromkin, V., Krashen, S., Rigler, D. and Rigler, M. 1974. The linguistic development of Genie. Language, vol. 50, 3, 528-554. pdf
• Fromkin, V., Krashen, S., Curtiss, S., Rigler, D. and Rigler, M. 1974. The development of language in Genie: A case of language acquisition beyond the "Critical Period". Brain and Language, vol. 1, 81-107. pdf
• Krashen, S.D., Curtiss, S., Fromking, V., Rigler, D. and Rigler, M. 1974. Lateralization in the case of Genie. From: BRI, CEREBRAL DOMINANCE, Conference Report #34. University of California, Los Angeles, 13-14. pdf

  1973

• Curtiss, S. Krashen, S., Fromkin, V., Rigler, D. and Rigler, M. 1973. Language acquisition after the critical period: Genie as of April, 1973. 98-103. pdf

   

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