Favorable processing conditions in the production of passive sentences by Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children

Abstract

This study focuses on the production of passives by children (3–4 and 5–6 years old) under favorable conditions. An experiment is reported in which passives were elicited by priming in a Snap Game, where a central character was the patient of the events depicted in the cards to be described by the children. All children produced at least one passive and their overall number exceeded passives in prior studies; reversed roles were negligible. In a subsequent image description task, passives were elicited in less favorable conditions. Syntactic priming prevailed across tasks. A procedural account of the production of passives and of the effect of priming is provided, which supports the argument for children’s early competence to compute verbal passives.