Comparison of Sensitivity to the Surface and Deep Structure of Sentences in Children

Abstract

Passages of connected discourse followed by a test sentence and a further twenty syllables of discourse were played to sixty six-year-old children. At the end of each passage the test sentence was played in one of four forms: (i) identical, (ii) with its deep structure changed and surface structure maintained, (iii) as in (ii) but the meaning of the new sentence out of line with the sense of the passage, (iv) with its surface structure changed but deep structure maintained. Subjects were asked to say whether the test sentence was the same as or different from the one in the passage.

Treatment of (ii), (iii) and (iv) sentences was significantly different from that of (i), i.e., some changes were detected. Type (iv) changes were hardest to detect and type (iii) changes were detected most often. The children were more sensitive to deep structure than to surface structure changes.