Continuity in the Adult and Children’s Comprehension of Subject and Object Relative Clauses in French and Italian
Subject and object relative clauses have been studied from the point of view of language acquisition and adult sentence processing. In the adult sentence processing literature, subject relative clauses (RCs) are read faster than object RCs (e.g., Frauenfelder et al. 1980 for French; King and Kutas 1...
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| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-07-01
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| Series: | Languages |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/3/3/24 |
| _version_ | 1811187290954792960 |
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| author | Maria Teresa Guasti Mirta Vernice Julie Franck |
| author_facet | Maria Teresa Guasti Mirta Vernice Julie Franck |
| author_sort | Maria Teresa Guasti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Subject and object relative clauses have been studied from the point of view of language acquisition and adult sentence processing. In the adult sentence processing literature, subject relative clauses (RCs) are read faster than object RCs (e.g., Frauenfelder et al. 1980 for French; King and Kutas 1995 for English; Schriefers et al. 1995 for Dutch). Similarly, children understand and produce subject RCs earlier and with greater accuracy than object RCs in a variety of languages with head-initial relative clauses, as English, Hebrew and Italian. These findings cannot be a coincidence but reflect the fact that what children acquire first is also easier to process by adults. In this article, we support this observation by investigating subject and object RCs in children and adults speaking French and Italian. These languages display subject and object relatives as in (1), but they also have a type of object relative in which the subject is postverbal. We replicate the observation that subject relatives are easier than object and show that object relatives as in (1b), with the embedded subject in preverbal position are easier than those with the embedded subject in postverbal position, both for children and adults. We offer an account of these findings in terms of Fodor and Inoue’s (2000) diagnosis model in light of the fact that acquisition involves processing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T14:00:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-eb773ce4213f46f0bfa26e648825a920 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T14:00:55Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj.art-eb773ce4213f46f0bfa26e648825a9202022-12-22T04:20:08ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2018-07-01332410.3390/languages3030024languages3030024Continuity in the Adult and Children’s Comprehension of Subject and Object Relative Clauses in French and ItalianMaria Teresa Guasti0Mirta Vernice1Julie Franck2Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell’Ateneo Nuovo, 20126 Milano, ItalyDepartment of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell’Ateneo Nuovo, 20126 Milano, ItalyFaculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Geneva, Boulevard du Pont-d’Arve 40, 1211 Geneva 4, SwitzerlandSubject and object relative clauses have been studied from the point of view of language acquisition and adult sentence processing. In the adult sentence processing literature, subject relative clauses (RCs) are read faster than object RCs (e.g., Frauenfelder et al. 1980 for French; King and Kutas 1995 for English; Schriefers et al. 1995 for Dutch). Similarly, children understand and produce subject RCs earlier and with greater accuracy than object RCs in a variety of languages with head-initial relative clauses, as English, Hebrew and Italian. These findings cannot be a coincidence but reflect the fact that what children acquire first is also easier to process by adults. In this article, we support this observation by investigating subject and object RCs in children and adults speaking French and Italian. These languages display subject and object relatives as in (1), but they also have a type of object relative in which the subject is postverbal. We replicate the observation that subject relatives are easier than object and show that object relatives as in (1b), with the embedded subject in preverbal position are easier than those with the embedded subject in postverbal position, both for children and adults. We offer an account of these findings in terms of Fodor and Inoue’s (2000) diagnosis model in light of the fact that acquisition involves processing.http://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/3/3/24relative clauseschildrenadultsprocessingFrenchItalian |
| spellingShingle | Maria Teresa Guasti Mirta Vernice Julie Franck Continuity in the Adult and Children’s Comprehension of Subject and Object Relative Clauses in French and Italian Languages relative clauses children adults processing French Italian |
| title | Continuity in the Adult and Children’s Comprehension of Subject and Object Relative Clauses in French and Italian |
| title_full | Continuity in the Adult and Children’s Comprehension of Subject and Object Relative Clauses in French and Italian |
| title_fullStr | Continuity in the Adult and Children’s Comprehension of Subject and Object Relative Clauses in French and Italian |
| title_full_unstemmed | Continuity in the Adult and Children’s Comprehension of Subject and Object Relative Clauses in French and Italian |
| title_short | Continuity in the Adult and Children’s Comprehension of Subject and Object Relative Clauses in French and Italian |
| title_sort | continuity in the adult and children s comprehension of subject and object relative clauses in french and italian |
| topic | relative clauses children adults processing French Italian |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/3/3/24 |
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