No abstract

Two experiments are reported that examine the abilities of normal children aged five to seven years and deaf-mute children aged 11-18 years in tasks demanding comprehension, production and imitation of passive voice and double negative sentences. These show that comprehension precedes production and that while imitation can improve production it only does so for subjects showing some initial levels of comprehension. On the basis of these data, it is argued that the acquisition of syntactic structures is determined by levels of cognitive ability. A comparison of deaf and hearing subjects reveals that whilst the former are delayed in the acquisition of these syntactic structures, some do eventually succeed in mastering them. The implications of these findings for the role of language in the development of cognitive abilities are also explored.