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Children who get worse at understanding the passive: A replication of Bever

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Abstract

Children 3 and 4 years old were tested for their competence in understanding three full passives as a pretest for another experimental task. The proportion of those failing two or more of three passives was found to rise significantly in the age periods 3, 8,3, and 11, replicating findings reported by Bever. The present results are discussed in this light, and a comment is made on Bever's outline of the general sequence of language acquisition in the child.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

    Michael P. Maratsos

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  1. Michael P. Maratsos
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Additional information

This research was supported by a Graduate School Grant from the University of Minnesota (450-0350-4909-02)

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Maratsos, M.P. Children who get worse at understanding the passive: A replication of Bever. J Psycholinguist Res 3, 65–74 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067222

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067222

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