Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
Cognition. 2010 May;115(2):238-51. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2009.12.015. Epub 2010 Feb 12.
Researchers have long been puzzled by the challenge English passive constructions present for language learners, with adult-like comprehension and production emerging only around the age of 5. It has therefore been of significant interest that researchers of other languages, including the Bantu language Sesotho, have reported acquisition of the passive by the age of 3 (Demuth, 1989). Such reports have typically been based on spontaneous production data, calling for further investigation. This study carried out a series of experiments with Sesotho-speaking 3-year-olds, testing their ability to comprehend the passive, produce the passive, and generalize novel verbs to passive frames. The results showed that passive comprehension was good, with no effect of actional/non-actional verb type. Elicited production of the passive was also good, with no difference between adversive and non-adversive verbs. Finally, all participants made both active and passive generalizations to novel verbs. These findings provide strong evidence that Sesotho-speaking 3-year-olds have robust, abstract knowledge of passive syntax. The paper concludes with a discussion of the factors that contribute to the early learning of the Sesotho passive, why acquisition of the passive may be delayed in English, and the implications for understanding grammatical development more generally.
研究人员长期以来一直对英语被动结构对语言学习者构成的挑战感到困惑，只有到 5 岁左右，他们才能达到类似成人的理解和表达水平。因此，其他语言的研究人员，包括班图语塞索托语，报告说儿童在 3 岁时就已经掌握了被动语态（Demuth，1989），这引起了人们的极大兴趣。此类报告通常基于自发的产出数据，因此需要进一步调查。本研究对讲塞索托语的 3 岁儿童进行了一系列实验，测试他们理解被动语态、产出被动语态以及将新动词泛化到被动框架的能力。结果表明，他们对被动语态的理解很好，动词的动作性/非动作性类型没有影响。被动语态的诱发产出也很好，无阻碍词和非阻碍词之间没有差异。最后，所有参与者都对新动词进行了主动和被动的泛化。这些发现有力地证明了讲塞索托语的 3 岁儿童对被动语法具有强大而抽象的知识。本文最后讨论了促成塞索托语被动语态早期学习的因素、为什么英语中被动语态的习得可能会延迟，以及对更全面地理解语法发展的影响。
