A large-scale cross-linguistic investigation of the acquisition of passive

• Published in: Language acquisition Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 27 - 56
• Main Authors: Armon-Lotem, Sharon, Haman, Ewa, Jensen de López, Kristine, Smoczynska, Magdalena, Yatsushiro, Kazuko, Szczerbinski, Marcin, van Hout, Angeliek, Dabašinskienė, Ineta, Gavarró, Anna, Hobbs, Erin, Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė, Laura, Katsos, Napoleon, Kunnari, Sari, Nitsiou, Chrisa, Sundahl Olsen, Lone, Parramon, Xavier, Sauerland, Uli, Torn-Leesik, Reeli, van der Lely, Heather
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mahwah Psychology Press 02-01-2016
• Subjects: Catalan language; Children; Children & youth; Comparative linguistics; Comprehension; Contrastive Linguistics; Danish language; Dutch language; English; English language; Error Analysis (Language); Estonian language; Finnish language; Finno Ugric Languages; Form Classes (Languages); German; German language; Greek; Greek language; Hebrew language; Identification; Individual Differences; Indo European Languages; Language Acquisition; Language Classification; Language Impairments; Language Processing; Language Research; Language Tests; Language typology; Linguistic Input; Linguistics; Lithuanian language; Native Language; Passive voice; Polish; Polish language; Preschool Children; Romance Languages; Roots (Morphology); Semitic Languages; Specific language impairment; Task Analysis; Word Order
• ISSN: 1048-9223; 1532-7817
• DOI: 10.1080/10489223.2015.1047095

This cross-linguistic study evaluates children's understanding of passives in 11 typologically different languages: Catalan, Cypriot Greek, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, German, Hebrew, Lithuanian, and Polish. The study intends to determine whether the reported gaps between the comprehension of active and passive and between short and full passive hold cross-linguistically. The present study offers two major findings. The first is the relative ease in which 5-year-old children across 11 different languages are able to comprehend short passive constructions (compared to the full passive). The second and perhaps the more intriguing finding is the variation seen across the different languages in children's comprehension of full passive constructions. We argued, based on the present findings, that given the relevant linguistic input (e.g., flexibility in word order and experience with argument reduction), children at the age of 5 are capable of acquiring both the short passive and the full passive. Variation, however, stems from the specific characteristics of each language, and good mastery of passives by the age of 5 is not a universal, cross-linguistically valid milestone in typical language acquisition. Therefore, difficulties with passives (short or full) can be used for identifying SLI at the age of 5 only in those languages in which it has already been mastered by typically developing children.