On the comprehension of reflexive si in preschool Italian-speaking children The derivation of passive structures is known to be complex, which is why a full and productive mastery of passives appears cross-linguistically relatively late in development (around age 5-6) [1],[2],[7]. In Italian, production and priming experiments have shown that at the age of 5, children produce si-causative constructions in answering patient-oriented questions, a condition in which adults systematically opt for full (copular/periphrastic) passives [3],[4]. Interestingly, the same experimental setting has also led young children to use reflexive structures [1],[4]. This behaviour appears to contradict the robust conclusion that, by age 3-4, children master reflexive binding and thus do not misinterpret sentences with reflexives [6],[7]. Alternatively, as proposed by the “reflexive passive hypothesis” [5], these reflexive constructions attested in development may in fact represent first attempts at producing passives, via exploitation of si as an (impersonal-generic) middle/passive morpheme, rather than as a reflexive, thus overextending a grammatical option available in the target language. With a view at verifying the “reflexive passive hypothesis” [5], we created a sentence-picture matching task as 2AFC task targeting comprehension of reflexive structures in contexts that can be ambiguous between a reflexive and a middle/passive reading of the sentence containing si. Specifically, couples of pictures involving the same characters and the same verbal action were presented to children. However, in one case, the action was depicted as reflexive; in the other, it was represented as transitive. Participants were told to look at the pictures and to select the one corresponding to what the experimenter said – which was always a reflexive prompt. An example of experimental item is provided in Figure 1. Binomial logistic regression analyses in an intercept-only model with item as random intercept were conducted on the responses supplied by 33 out of the 42 TD Italian-speaking children tested, all aged 3;4-4;3. The analysis of item responses revealed that, even though some items received more reflexive answers and others more transitive ones, there was no item inducing significant preference for either type of answer. The examination of individual results, then, showed that most subjects pended towards either the target or the non-target option, but this tendency was never significant. Therefore, independently of whether performance was completely at chance or pending towards one interpretation, children generally appeared not to properly understand the reflexive structure they were presented with. Consequently, 3-4-yos can be said to have troubles with the reflexive interpretation regulated by the binding Principle A when the experimental condition can induce a concurrent passive reading of the sentence containing si. In this situation, a correct, adult-like interpretation of the reflexive is hindered, and an oscillation between the reflexive and the passive reading is observed. This interpretation does not contradict previous findings on early mastering of Principle A: Principle A can be assumed to be in place and to be correctly computed by 3-4-yo Italian-speaking children. However, when a competing interpretational option is also available, their behaviour becomes at chance due to the concomitant availability of the equally plausible transitive reading, with si playing the role of a passive voice. These results are consistent with the previous findings from early elicited child production by Italian typically developing children [1],[4], thus confirming a homogeneous treatment of the same grammatical options in both production and comprehension. References [1] Manetti, C. 2013. On the production of passives in Italian: evidence from an elicited production task and a syntactic priming study with preschool children. In: Baiz, S., Goldman, N., and Hawkes, R. eds. Boston University Conference on Language Development 37th Online Proceedings Supplement. [2] Guasti, M.T. 2016. Voice Alternations (Active, Passive, Middle). In: Lidz, J.L., Snyder, W. and Pater, J. eds. The Oxford Handbook of Developmental Linguistics. Oxford/New York: Oxford University press. [3] Manetti, C. and Belletti, A. 2015. Causatives and the acquisition of the Italian passive. In: Hamann, C. and Ruigendijk, E. eds. Language Acquisition and Development (Selected proceedings of Gala-2013 – University of Oldenburg). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 282–298. [4] Belletti, A. and Manetti, C. 2019. Topics and passives in Italian-speaking children and adults. Language Acquisition. 26(2), pp. 153-182. [5] Belletti, A. 2020. (Reflexive) Si as a route to passive in Italian. In: Franco, L. and Lorusso, P. eds. Linguistic Variation: Structure and Interpretation. Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 73-86. [6] Hamann, C. 2011. Binding and Coreference: Views from Child Language. In: De Villiers, J. and Roeper, T. eds. Handbook of Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition. Berlin: Springer, pp. 247-285. [7] Guasti, M.T. 2016a. Language Acquisition: The Growth of Grammar. Cambridge: MIT
Raminelli, L., Belletti, A. (2022). On the comprehension of reflexive si in preschool Italian-speaking children. Intervento presentato a: GALA 15 - Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition, Frankfurt, Deutschland.
On the comprehension of reflexive si in preschool Italian-speaking children
Raminelli, L.;
2022
Abstract
On the comprehension of reflexive si in preschool Italian-speaking children The derivation of passive structures is known to be complex, which is why a full and productive mastery of passives appears cross-linguistically relatively late in development (around age 5-6) [1],[2],[7]. In Italian, production and priming experiments have shown that at the age of 5, children produce si-causative constructions in answering patient-oriented questions, a condition in which adults systematically opt for full (copular/periphrastic) passives [3],[4]. Interestingly, the same experimental setting has also led young children to use reflexive structures [1],[4]. This behaviour appears to contradict the robust conclusion that, by age 3-4, children master reflexive binding and thus do not misinterpret sentences with reflexives [6],[7]. Alternatively, as proposed by the “reflexive passive hypothesis” [5], these reflexive constructions attested in development may in fact represent first attempts at producing passives, via exploitation of si as an (impersonal-generic) middle/passive morpheme, rather than as a reflexive, thus overextending a grammatical option available in the target language. With a view at verifying the “reflexive passive hypothesis” [5], we created a sentence-picture matching task as 2AFC task targeting comprehension of reflexive structures in contexts that can be ambiguous between a reflexive and a middle/passive reading of the sentence containing si. Specifically, couples of pictures involving the same characters and the same verbal action were presented to children. However, in one case, the action was depicted as reflexive; in the other, it was represented as transitive. Participants were told to look at the pictures and to select the one corresponding to what the experimenter said – which was always a reflexive prompt. An example of experimental item is provided in Figure 1. Binomial logistic regression analyses in an intercept-only model with item as random intercept were conducted on the responses supplied by 33 out of the 42 TD Italian-speaking children tested, all aged 3;4-4;3. The analysis of item responses revealed that, even though some items received more reflexive answers and others more transitive ones, there was no item inducing significant preference for either type of answer. The examination of individual results, then, showed that most subjects pended towards either the target or the non-target option, but this tendency was never significant. Therefore, independently of whether performance was completely at chance or pending towards one interpretation, children generally appeared not to properly understand the reflexive structure they were presented with. Consequently, 3-4-yos can be said to have troubles with the reflexive interpretation regulated by the binding Principle A when the experimental condition can induce a concurrent passive reading of the sentence containing si. In this situation, a correct, adult-like interpretation of the reflexive is hindered, and an oscillation between the reflexive and the passive reading is observed. This interpretation does not contradict previous findings on early mastering of Principle A: Principle A can be assumed to be in place and to be correctly computed by 3-4-yo Italian-speaking children. However, when a competing interpretational option is also available, their behaviour becomes at chance due to the concomitant availability of the equally plausible transitive reading, with si playing the role of a passive voice. These results are consistent with the previous findings from early elicited child production by Italian typically developing children [1],[4], thus confirming a homogeneous treatment of the same grammatical options in both production and comprehension. References [1] Manetti, C. 2013. On the production of passives in Italian: evidence from an elicited production task and a syntactic priming study with preschool children. In: Baiz, S., Goldman, N., and Hawkes, R. eds. Boston University Conference on Language Development 37th Online Proceedings Supplement. [2] Guasti, M.T. 2016. Voice Alternations (Active, Passive, Middle). In: Lidz, J.L., Snyder, W. and Pater, J. eds. The Oxford Handbook of Developmental Linguistics. Oxford/New York: Oxford University press. [3] Manetti, C. and Belletti, A. 2015. Causatives and the acquisition of the Italian passive. In: Hamann, C. and Ruigendijk, E. eds. Language Acquisition and Development (Selected proceedings of Gala-2013 – University of Oldenburg). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 282–298. [4] Belletti, A. and Manetti, C. 2019. Topics and passives in Italian-speaking children and adults. Language Acquisition. 26(2), pp. 153-182. [5] Belletti, A. 2020. (Reflexive) Si as a route to passive in Italian. In: Franco, L. and Lorusso, P. eds. Linguistic Variation: Structure and Interpretation. Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 73-86. [6] Hamann, C. 2011. Binding and Coreference: Views from Child Language. In: De Villiers, J. and Roeper, T. eds. Handbook of Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition. Berlin: Springer, pp. 247-285. [7] Guasti, M.T. 2016a. Language Acquisition: The Growth of Grammar. Cambridge: MIT
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