Pronominalization in the Language of Deaf Students

Four hundred and eighty deaf students (age 10 to 18 years) and 60 hearing children (age eight to 10 years) were required to complete a stimulus sentence by selecting the appropriate pronoun from a list provided. The results indicated that subject and object case pronouns were easier than possessive adjectives, which were in turn easier than possessive pronouns and reflexives. Correct use of relative pronouns was the most difficult for both deaf and hearing subjects. Generalizations about the acquisition of the pronoun system must be limited, as it appeared that pronouns are mastered on a pronoun-by-pronoun basis rather than by categories (person, number, case) for both the deaf and hearing subjects.