Examining the production of Cantonese passive construction using sentence recall

Abstract

In this study, the production of Cantonese passive construction was examined by sentence recall. Forty-eight children in three groups, aged 3;6 to 3;11, 4;0 to 4;5 and 4;6-4;11, recalled 33 sentences including the active construction and four different types of passive constructions. The result showed that children developed knowledge of the production of the active construction first, followed by the indirect passive and the direct passive – actional verb, then the direct passive – nonactional verb. The most difficult one was the complex passive. Children aged 4;6 were almost proficient to produce all the above types of passive constructions except for the complex passive. For all types of constructions across age group, the children had the most problem with thematic roles. Implications of these findings were discussed.