The Comprehension of (Eventive) Verbal Passives by Italian Preschool Age Children

This study investigates the comprehension of passive sentences by Italian-speaking typically-developing young children, in order to determine how different variables (use of actional vs. non-actional verbs, presence vs. absence of the by-phrase, use of the auxiliary essere vs. auxiliary venire) can account for the use of this structure in early language acquisition. The analysis of the data shows an asymmetry between actional and non-actional passives, namely the former are easier to comprehend than the latter. Long passives are not significantly different from short passives. The most interesting results concern the role of the variable ‘auxiliary’ in the comprehension of passive sentences. In fact, actional passive sentences with auxiliary venire are largely comprehended by Italian-speaking children (mean percentage of accuracy 86%). The correct comprehension of sentences built with this auxiliary demonstrates that Italian children do master verbal passive sentences.