Acquisition of passive sentences: a theoretical-experimental retrospective

Authors

  • Gabriel de Ávila Othero Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS
  • Mariana Terra Teixeira Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul - PUCRS

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/1984-8412.2018v15n3p3241

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the late acquisition of passive sentences, focusing on studies in Brazilian Portuguese. Late acquisition of passive constructions is widely discussed in the literature, specially under the ‘Maratsos effect’: late acquisition of verbal passives with non-action verbs (e.g. hear, see, like, etc.). Two hypotheses are defended in the literature to explain this phenomenon: the hypothesis of maturation of language skills (BORER; WEXLER, 1987) and the hypothesis of the influence of language input (DEMUTH, 1989; DEMUTH et al., 2010). In this paper, we give an overview of both theoretical explanations about the delay in the acquisition of passives and discuss them on the basis of studies of acquisition in Brazilian Portuguese. We analyze the studies of Brazilian Portuguese concerning theoretical and experimental linguistic data, and conclude that they seem to bring evidence to believe that the maturational hypothesis provides a more sensible explanation for the acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese passives.

Author Biographies

Gabriel de Ávila Othero, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS

Professor Associado no Instituto de Letras da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS.

Mariana Terra Teixeira, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul - PUCRS

Doutoranda em Linguística Aplicada pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul – PUCRS

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Published

2018-10-23

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 3 (2018)

Section

Restrospective

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