Acquisition Of Passives Research Articles

The Acquisition of Passives by Thai Preschoolers

Abstract This study investigates how pre-school Thai children comprehend Thai short and long passives with adversative and non-adversative and action and psychological verbs. The results show that preschool children did not comprehend passives well, primarily because of the thematic role reversal in the subjects of passives and actives. Action verbs are acquired earlier and better than psychological verbs. Unlike previous studies of other languages, Thai children comprehend long passives better than short passives with most verb types.

When morphology is not enough: The acquisition of voice in monolingual Greek children and bilingual children with Greek as a heritage language

ABSTRACT The acquisition of voice in Greek remains understudied, especially in heritage populations. Voice in Greek poses a challenging acquisition task for children due to its syncretism, marking various verb classes as well as passives. The present study explores the acquisition of anticausatives, reflexives, and passives in 6-to-8-year-old monolingual Greek and Greek-German bilingual children with Greek as their heritage language. This age coincides with the immersion of children in the education system. A Sentence Picture Matching task tested participants’ interpretation preferences when ambiguity arises in reflexives and (optionally) (un)marked anticausatives (reflexive/anticausative vs. passive interpretation); it also tested accuracy in passives compared to actives-transitives (passive vs. active interpretation). All children exhibited adult-like performance in reflexives. In anticausatives, despite their lower performance, they were qualitatively similar to adults, exhibiting knowledge of verb classes. Children’s preferences were predicted by age (active-morphology/ACT) and vocabulary (non-active/NACT), confirming the role of the mental lexicon in the acquisition of NACT anticausatives. The only difference between bilingual and monolingual children was in optionally (un)marked anticausatives, both in ACT and NACT, that was marginally predicted by age and grammar production respectively, suggesting that optionality affects bilingual more than monolingual children. In passives, children were less accurate than adults despite ceiling performance in actives-transitives. Bilingual children performed less well than monolingual children and performance was predicted by grammar and exposure. These findings reflect the difficulties of monolingual children with passives and their late acquisition which further affects bilingual development due to reduced input in heritage Greek.

Acquisition of Mandarin long passives by children with developmental language disorder

ABSTRACT This study investigated the comprehension and production of long passives (i.e. bei-constructions with an overt agent) in Mandarin-speaking children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Seventeen preschool children with DLD (1 female; mean age: 61 months old) and 23 typically developing (TD) children (6 females; mean age: 62 months old) participated in a sentence-picture matching task (for comprehension) and an elicited production task. Their nonverbal working memory (NVWM) was measured with the fourth edition of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. Results showed that children with DLD were less accurate and more likely to choose the picture with reversed thematic roles than their TD peers on passives in the sentence-picture matching task; in the elicited production task, they produced fewer target responses than TD children in passives. For NVWM, although that of the DLD group was lower than that of TD children, most children in the DLD group were within the average range. Furthermore, their performance on passives in the comprehension and production tasks was significantly correlated with their NVWM, which adds to the body of work suggesting links between complex syntax and working memory. However, the fact that NVWM could be preserved in the face of difficulties with passives suggests that this link may be due to NVWM enhancing performance during tasks with a high visual component, while it may not be underlyingly responsible for syntactic impairments in children with DLD.

The Comprehension and Production of Passive Constructions by Afrikaans and isiXhosa First Language Grade 1 Children

ABSTRACT The acquisition of passives is well-studied in many languages, with evidence of crosslinguistic differences in the age at which passives are acquired. The aim of this study is to add to the existing knowledge of child acquisition of passives by providing data from Afrikaans and isiXhosa, two under-researched and typologically different languages spoken in South Africa. Comprehension and production data were collected from first language speakers (27 Afrikaans; 29 isiXhosa) from low socioeconomic backgrounds at the beginning and end of their Grade 1 year (aged 6;0 to 7;6). Picture selection and sentence completion tasks of the Receptive and Expressive Activities for Language Therapy were used to collect comprehension and production data, respectively, on short/full passives with actional verbs, reversible passives, and passives containing perceptual and psychological verbs. Comprehension of short passives with actional verbs were fully acquired by the isiXhosa L1 groups and reversible passives were approaching mastery by the beginning of Grade 1, but not the comprehension or production of any other types of passives constructions, by neither the isiXhosa nor the Afrikaans L1 group. By the end of the Grade 1 year, the isiXhosa group had acquired full comprehension and production of all passive types, whereas the Afrikaans group had fully acquired comprehension of both short and full passives with actional verbs but not yet passive production. Language group differences are thought to be related, in part, to differences in passive morphosyntax.

Compreensão de estruturas sintáticas com movimento A’ e com movimento A em crianças portuguesas surdas com implante coclear: efeitos da idade de início de exposição ao input linguístico e do tempo de exposição à língua

In the period in which language should be acquired, auditory input deprivation compromises oral language exposure. The literature reports difficulties in the oral comprehension of syntactic dependencies resulting from A’ movement, but no difficulties in the acquisition of syntactic structures with A-movement in hearing-impaired children with hearing aids. Our study investigates the effects of the total deprivation of linguistic input during the first year(s) of life (critical period of language acquisition) and length of language exposure on the comprehension of dependencies with A and A-bar movement (Wh- questions, relative clauses, and passives) in 47 Portuguese hearing-impaired children with cochlear implants. The results reveal that CI activation before age 3 combined with at least 6 years of language exposure determines comprehension of Wh- questions and relatives at the same level as the control group. The same does not happen with the comprehension of passives, that remain problematic in this population even after prolonged exposure. We discuss these findings in light of theoretical proposals that attribute the acquisition of passives to maturational constraints.

The acquisition of English active and passive monotransitive constructions by English–Spanish simultaneous bilingual children

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: We examine the acquisition of English active and passive monotransitives by English–Spanish bilingual children. These data are compared to English monolinguals from previous studies. We explore whether bi- and monolinguals show similar onset patterns given the shared grammatical properties of actives in the bilinguals’ two languages, and whether they differ in the onset of passives given the grammatical properties in English (canonical determiner phrase [DP]-movement) and Spanish (canonical DP-movement and se-passives). We also investigate the role played by adult input in child output. Design/methodology/approach: We analyze the spontaneous production data from eight English–Spanish bilinguals (ages: 1;01–6;11), and the adults who interact with them. Data and analysis: We perform a double analysis: (1) the onset of these structures in the spontaneous production of bilinguals to determine whether emergence patterns differ from those of monolinguals and (2) their incidence through language development to focus on production frequency. Findings/conclusions: Bilinguals start producing passives at the age of 3, later than actives that emerge at the age of 2, akin to English monolinguals. This acquisition order effect is also seen in the lower incidence of passives when compared to actives in the two child groups. The distributional properties of the two passive types do not seem to have interfered in the bilinguals’ acquisition of the English passive type, causing delay. These data suggest that the emergence and the incidence of the two constructions in bi- and monolinguals could be explained by the DP-movement maturation and/or adult input effects given the adults’ lower frequency of exposure to passives with respect to actives. Originality: This is the first study that addresses bilingual acquisition data and compares child output to adult input. Significance/implications: It contributes to elucidate how the bilinguals’ two languages interact in the acquisition and incidence of English actives and passives.

Edilgen Yapıların Edinimi: Anlambilimsel Ve Edimbilimsel Yaklaşım

This paper presents a general review of literature in terms of acquisition of passives as well as providing new theoretical insights considering the semantics and pragmatics of passives, which are thought to be the underlying reasons of difficulty. There is a disagreement in the literature as to whether passive structures are difficult and if so, what may be the underlying causes of this difficulty. Based on the arguments presented in the literature, the syntactic hypothesis (Wexler 2004) and the incremental processing hypothesis (Trueswell and Gleitman 2004) stand out. Wexler’s syntactic hypothesis is that children regard all vP’s and CP’s as strong phases, which makes non-grammatical passives for them, which is the source of the difficulty. In the meantime, in both cases (syntax or incremental processing), frequency plays a major role in boosting the acquisition process by either making children be faster at reassigning thematic roles, which is the source of difficulty according to incremental processing hypothesis, or making children be aware of the fact that vPs are not strong phases, thereby making passives grammatical, so that children can use them. Finally, in this study, a theoretical analysis based on semantic and pragmatical perspectives is presented to explain why passive structures are difficult to acquire in some languages because the studies on passive structures in the literature neglect the meaning component. In this study, the introspective semantics model (Von Fintel and Heim 2011) was used to provide a new theoretical perspective on the acquisition of passive structures.

Aquisição de sentenças passivas: uma retrospectiva teórico-experimental

Neste artigo, discutimos a aquisição tardia de sentenças passivas, focando nos estudos sobre passivas do português brasileiro (PB). A aquisição tardia das construções passivas já é bem conhecida na literatura, é o chamado “efeito Maratsos”: o atraso na aquisição de passivas verbais com verbos de não ação (“ouvir”, “ver”, “gostar”, etc.). Duas hipóteses são defendidas na literatura para explicar esse fenômeno: a hipótese da maturação de habilidades linguísticas (BORER & WEXLER, 1987) e a hipótese da influência do input linguístico (DEMUTH, 1989; DEMUTH et al., 2010). Neste artigo, procuramos traçar um panorama de ambas as explicações teóricas sobre o atraso na aquisição das passivas e discuti-las com base nos estudos de aquisição de sentenças passivas em PB. Sob viés linguístico teórico-experimental, analisamos alguns estudos-chave e concluímos que eles parecem trazer evidências para se acreditar que a hipótese maturacional fornece uma explicação mais sensata para os dados do PB.

“Which Came First: The Chicken or the Egg?” Ditransitive and Passive Constructions in the English Production of Simultaneous Bilingual English Children

This article aims to shed light on the syntactic status attributed to ditransitive constructions— double object construction (DOC) and to/for-dative—with respect to which type of structure is syntactically transformed through a process analogous to that of passives. We will do so by providing an analysis of the ditransitives and passives that appear in the English production of a set of English/Spanish simultaneous bilingual twins. Our results show that DOCs start being produced earlier than to/for-datives. However, the age of onset of passives differs in the children though it is consistently produced later than ditransitives. Likewise, adult input goes hand in hand with the children’s production of ditransitives and passives since the high frequency of DOCs in this input, as opposed to the low frequency of to/for-datives and passives, is refected in child output. These fndings thus suggest that to/for-datives could be said to be derived from DOCs although, given the later acquisition of passives, no frm conclusions can be drawn as to whether this is done via a passive-like process. Keywords: ditransitives; double object constructions; to/for-dative structures; passives; bilingual acquisition; input . .

Acquiring the Passive Voice: Developmental Patterns of English Passive Constructions by Chinese EFL Learners

The purpose of this study was to explore the developmental patterns of English passives with reference to learners’ proficiency. To this end, we collected data from 51 lower-level and 54 higher-level college students. A Chinese-English translation was first conducted to see how learners acquired target English passives objectively, and a difficulty evaluation was given to see whether learners’ subjective judgments were identical with their performances in translation. Three results were found. First, learners’ acquisition of English passives follows a relatively fixed order. The objective and subjective orders are statistically significant and consistent. Second, the orders can be further represented by hierarchies, which are more stable and consistent with NOH (Natural Order Hypothesis). Third, learners’ acquisition also exhibits transitional stages, in the process of which the grammaticalization of English passives gradually approximates the level of native speakers’. Based on the findings, a Natural Acquisition Stability and Variability Hypothesis is tentatively proposed, which includes a theoretically fixed natural order and an actualized variable order. These results indicate that although the acquisition order is stable, it is not strictly linear, but non-linear with unevenly paced twists and turns in the acquisition. (Kangwon National University / Weifang University)

Older age of onset in child L2 acquisition can be facilitative: evidence from the acquisition of English passives by Spanish natives.

We report a longitudinal comprehension study of (long) passive constructions in two native-Spanish child groups differing by age of initial exposure to L2 English (young group: 3;0-4;0; older group: 6;0-7;0), where amount of input, L2 exposure environment, and socioeconomic status are controlled. Data from a forced-choice task show that both groups comprehend active sentences, not passives, initially (after 3·6 years of exposure). One year later, both groups improve, but only the older group reaches ceiling on both actives and passives. Two years from initial testing, the younger group catches up. Input alone cannot explain why the younger group takes five years to accomplish what the older group does in four. We claim that some properties take longer to acquire at certain ages because language development is partially constrained by general cognitive and linguistic development (e.g. de Villiers, 2007; Long & Rothman, 2014; Paradis, 2008, 2010, 2011; Tsimpli, 2014).

Acquisition of event passives and state passives by Mandarin-speaking children

The present study aims to investigate how children comprehend event passives and state passives in Mandarin and whether they can distinguish these two types of passives or not. Chinese action verbs were classified into three types: achievement, destructive, and creative. Each verb type was involved in a picture identification task using two kinds of passives, event and state passives. Sixty children grouped according to age (4, 5 and 6-year-olds) as well as twenty adults completed the tasks. Results showed that adults and 6-year-olds could distinguish event passives from state passives, while younger subjects were liable to treat event passives as state passives. Young Mandarin-speaking children (4 and 5-year-olds) tend to analyze event passives as equivalent to the corresponding state passives, whose structures are similar to adjectival constructions.

Cue Competition between Animacy and Word Order: Acquisition of Chinese Notional Passives by L2 Learners

Based on the Competition Model (Bates & MacWhinney, 1978; MacWhinney, 2005; MacWhinney, 2012), the present study investigates L2 cue strategies in the acquisition of Chinese notional passives by English-speaking and Japanese-speaking learners. Two experiments were conducted to examine both the comprehension and production of Chinese notional passives. The main findings included: 1) L2 learners’ acceptability of notional passive increased with improved Chinese proficiency but even advanced learners showed significant difference from Chinese native speakers; 2) L2 learners produced more notional passive sentences than bei-passive sentences and advanced learners showed no difference from Chinese native speakers; 3) Cross-linguistic influence seemed to affect L2 learners’ comprehension and production of Chinese notional passives. The results support the universality of animacy cue proposed by Gass (1987) but also suggest that word order and pragmatic factors may affect L2 learners’ cue strategies. The study also evidences the contribution of the input to the development of L2 cue strategies, which is in line with the predictions of the Competition Model.

The acquisition of passives in Serbian

ABSTRACTThis study examined the comprehension of actional and psychological verbs in both their active and passive (short and long) forms by 99 Serbian-speaking children. The children, whose age ranged between 3 years, 6 months (3;6) and 7 years, 6 months (7;6), were divided into three groups: 3;6–5 (M = 4.3), 5;1–6;1 (M = 5.6), and 6;2–7;6 (M = 7.0). All groups reached ceiling performance on actives of both actional and psychological verbs. They showed a good performance on passives of actional verbs, both short and long, but an exceptionally low performance on passives of psychological verbs: only the oldest group, 7-year-olds, reached 80% correct performance on psychological passives. There were no differences in the children's performance on short versus long passives of either type of the verb. These results are in line with studies reporting delayed passive comprehension in children younger than 5 in a number of languages, suggesting a delay in the comprehension of this structure cross-linguistically. The discrepancy observed in the comprehension of psychological passives, as opposed to actional actives, fits neatly into Borer and Wexler's account, which relates children's difficulties in this area to their underlying knowledge of argument chains created by movement of sentential elements.

A Cognitive Approach to the Acquisition of Passives in Korean

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Acquisition of Passives and Transitivity Hierarchy

Acquisition of Passives and Transitivity Hierarchy

Input, triggering and poverty of the stimulus in the second language acquisition of Japanese passives

This article adopts an input perspective in examining a poverty-of-the stimulus (POS) learning situation in second language acquisition (SLA). Analysis of grammaticality judgement data from 81 English-speaking and 85 Chinese-speaking learners of Japanese isolates triggering input that informed English learners of subtle semantic properties of the ni direct passive underdetermined by second language (L2) input. The study shows a sufficient correlation in the case of English learners between acquisition of the ni direct passive's triggering properties (available through input) and acquisition of its POS properties (unavailable through input). Importantly, those properties are direct consequences of affectivity, an underlying semantic property of the ni direct passive. That correlation does not obtain in the case of Chinese learners due to a positive first language (L1) effect. Additional corroborating evidence comes from acquisition of another Japanese passive, the ni yotte, for which no correlation was found between its non-triggering and non-POS properties for either English or Chinese learners as those properties are available through input. The article proposes that English learners' computation of a target-like conceptual representation of the triggering input leads to the restructuring of their lexical—conceptual representation of the ni direct passive.

The distribution of passives in spoken Sesotho

A previous study of passive constructions has suggested that these are much more frequent in Sesotho than in English spontaneous speech (Demuth, 1989). This has raised a number of questions regarding the possible effects of the input on the apparently earlier acquisition of passives in Sesotho. This paper explores the distribution of passives in Sesotho child-directed speech. It aims to provide a more thorough investigation of the grammatical, lexical and discourse contexts in which the passive is used. The findings confirm that passives occur in approximately 4% of utterances directed at 2–3-year olds. Many of these are full (rather than truncated) passives, most occurring with actional verbs that show active/passive alternations. Many passives are also questions/clarifications about past events. The implications for language acquisition are discussed.

Language learning

Language learning

On the second language acquisition of Spanish reflexive passives and reflexive impersonals by French- and English-speaking adults

This study, a partial replication of Bruhn de Garavito (1999a; 1999b), investigates the second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish reflexive passives and reflexive impersonals by French- and English-speaking adults at an advanced level of proficiency. The L2 acquisition of Spanish reflexive passives and reflexive impersonals by native French and English speakers instantiates a potential learnability problem, because (1) the constructions are superficially very similar ( se V DP) but display distinct idiosyncratic morphological and syntactic behaviour; (2) neither exists in English, and the reflexive impersonal does not exist in French; and (3) differences between the two are typically not subject to explicit instruction. Participants - 13 English, 16 French and 27 Spanish speakers (controls) - completed a 64-item grammaticality-judgement task. Results show that L2 learners could in general differentiate grammatical from ungrammatical items, but they performed significantly differently from the control group on most sentence types. A look at the participants’ accuracy rates indicates that few L2 learners performed accurately on most sentence types. Grammatical and ungrammatical test items involving [+animate] DPs preceded or not by the object-marking preposition a were particularly problematic, as L2 learners judged them both as grammatical. These results confirm that the L2 acquisition of Spanish reflexive passives and reflexive impersonals by French- and English-speaking adults instantiates a learnability problem, not yet overcome at an advanced level of proficiency.