Comprensione e produzione di frasi relative e frasi passive: il caso di due bambini gemelli sordi italiani

This study investigates the comprehension and production of relative and passive sentences by two orally trained male twins with mild-to-moderate hearing loss tested at the age of 7;6 and 9. It enters a lively debate on the acquisition of relative and passive sentences by children with typical and atypical development and aims at determining whether the twins show the same level of language proficiency and whether their performances differ from those of hearing children. The results reveal that despite the same degree of hearing loss and the same family background, some differences between the twins’ performances are observed. The comparison with hearing children shows that even mild-to-moderate hearing loss has effects on the syntactic competence attained. Nonetheless, the longitudinal analysis highlights an improvement in relative and passive sentences comprehension for both children.