Sentence repetition task for European Portuguese: results from a study with monolingual and Portuguese-German bilingual children

Figures & data

Table 1. Contents of the SRT-EP.

Structure type	Subtype	Example	Length (# syllables)
indicative	periphrastic future	Os meninos vão comer as maçãs no jardim. ‘The boys are going to eat the apples in the garden.’	11-13
	past	A prima pintou o desenho com os lápis. ‘The cousin colored the drawing with the pencils.’	12-13
complement clause	non-finite	A menina quer comer um gelado na praia. ‘The girl wants to eat an ice cream on the beach.’	13-14
subjunctive	present	Talvez o pai esteja no trabalho amanhã. ‘Maybe the father will be at work tomorrow.’	14
	past	Talvez a menina estivesse com medo do cão. ‘Maybe the girl was afraid of the dog.’	15-16
coordinate clause	copulative	O homem tocou tambor e a mulher cantou na festa. ‘The man played the drum and the woman sang at the party.’	16-17
	adversative	O pai falou alto, mas o bebé não acordou. ‘The father spoke loudly, but the baby didn’t wake up.’	14-15
passive	short	O rapaz foi assaltado na rua. ‘The boy was robbed on the street.’ O pirata foi avistado na ilha. ‘The pirate was sighted on the island.’	11-13
wh-question	who-object	Quem é que o polícia prendeu na estrada? ‘Who did the policeman arrest on the street?’	13-14
complement clause	finite	O menino disse que brinca com carrinhos grandes. ‘The boy said that he plays with big cars.’	14-15
relative clause	subject	Tu viste o rapaz que desenhou a mulher. ‘You saw the boy that drew the woman.’	11-13
accusative clitic	enclisis	O dono da loja fechou-a depois do almoço. ‘The owner of the store closed it after lunch.’	14-16
	proclisis	O gato do avô só o arranhou na perna. ‘The grandfather’s cat only scratched him on the leg.’	14-16
passive	long	O peixe foi comido pela baleia no mar. ‘The fish was eaten by the whale in the sea.’ O neto foi visto pelo avô no parque. ‘The grandson was seen by the grandfather in the park.’	13-14
relative clause	object	Tu viste a mulher que o rapaz desenhou. ‘You saw the woman that the boy drew.’	11-13
wh-question	which-object	Que animal é que a cobra comeu ontem? ‘Which animal did the snake eat yesterday?’	13-15
conditional clause	hypothetical or unreal	O menino apanharia a bola, se fosse mais alto. ‘The boy would catch the ball if he were taller.’ Se o pai fosse rico, compraria um carro. ‘If the father were rich, he would buy a car.’	14-18

Abbreviation: SRT-EP = Sentence Repetition Task-European Portuguese.

Table 2. Distribution of items by blocks in the SRT-EP.

Block 1: 20 sentences		Block 2: 24 sentences		Block 3: 16 sentences
indicative	periphrastic future	accusative clitic	enclisis	relative clause	subject
	past		proclisis		object
subjunctive	present	passive	short	wh-question	which-object
	past		long	conditional clause	hypothetical
coordinate clause		wh-question	who-object
complement clause	non-finite	complement clause	finite

Abbreviation: Sentence Repetition Task-European Portuguese.

Table

Se	a menina	arrumasse	o quarto,	ia	ao parque.
if	the girl	tidied	the room,	would.go	to.the park
‘If the girl tidied the room, she would go to the park.’
target-like: Se a menina arrumasse o quarto, iria ao parque.

Table 3. GLMMs in Sets A and B: overview of the dependent variables (DVs) and predictors.

Set	Subset	Model	DVs	Predictors
A	A1	1	TS	age (in months) level of complexity (C1/C2/C3) group (monolingual/bilingual) two-way and three-way interactions
		2	TS&Gra
	A2	1	TS (C1)	age (in months) group (monolingual/bilingual) two-way interaction
		2	TS&Gra (C1)
		3	TS (C2)
		4	TS&Gra (C2)
		5	TS (C3)
		6	TS&Gra (C3)
B		1	TS	age (in months) level of complexity (C1/C2/C3) cumulative amount of HL exposure richness of the HL input
		2	TS&Gra

Abbreviations: GLMMs = generalized linear mixed-effects models; TS = target structure; TS&Gra = target structure & grammaticality; HL = heritage language.

Table 4. Reliability statistics for both scoring methods.

	(n)	TS	TS&Gra
Monolinguals & Bilinguals	68	0.96	0.97
Monolinguals	43	0.90	0.91
EP-German bilinguals	25	0.97	0.96

Abbreviation: EP = European Portuguese; TS = target structure; TS & Gra = target structure & grammaticality.

Figure 1. Overall performance (i.e., accuracy rate) on the SRT per scoring measure and group (the red dots and lines represent the mean and the standard error from the mean, respectively).

Figure 2. Performance (i.e., accuracy rate) on the SRT per level of complexity, scoring measure and group (the red dots and lines represent the mean and the standard error from the mean, respectively).

Table 5. Performance (i.e., accuracy rate) on the SRT structures per scoring measure and group.

CLevel	Structure	Measure	Group	N	Mean	SE	SD	Min.	Max.
C1	CompNonFinite	TS	Bil	25	88.0	5.025	25.12	0	100
			Mono	43	100.0	0.000	0.00	100	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	81.0	5.260	26.30	0	100
			Mono	43	99.4	0.581	3.81	75	100
	PeriFuture	TS	Bil	25	98.0	1.384	6.92	75	100
			Mono	43	100.0	0.000	0.00	100	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	89.0	3.253	16.27	50	100
			Mono	43	98.8	0.812	5.33	75	100
	Preterite	TS	Bil	25	94.0	2.986	14.93	50	100
			Mono	43	98.8	1.163	7.62	50	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	85.0	4.082	20.41	25	100
			Mono	43	97.7	1.825	11.97	25	100
C2	CompFinite	TS	Bil	25	88.0	5.228	26.14	0	100
			Mono	43	97.1	1.490	9.77	50	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	79.0	5.530	27.65	0	100
			Mono	43	95.3	1.907	12.51	50	100
	Coordinate	TS	Bil	25	94.0	4.153	20.77	0	100
			Mono	43	96.5	2.134	14.00	25	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	85.0	4.330	21.65	0	100
			Mono	43	92.4	2.569	16.85	25	100
	PassiveShort	TS	Bil	25	90.0	5.204	26.02	0	100
			Mono	43	98.8	0.812	5.33	75	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	78.0	6.178	30.89	0	100
			Mono	43	98.3	0.983	6.44	75	100
	RelativeSub	TS	Bil	25	88.0	5.795	28.98	0	100
			Mono	43	99.4	0.581	3.81	75	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	83.0	6.076	30.38	0	100
			Mono	43	98.3	1.288	8.44	50	100
	Subjunctive	TS	Bil	25	57.0	7.292	36.46	0	100
			Mono	43	93.0	2.541	16.66	25	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	45.0	6.922	34.61	0	100
			Mono	43	89.5	3.139	20.58	0	100
	WhoObject	TS	Bil	25	70.0	7.773	38.86	0	100
			Mono	43	97.1	1.237	8.11	75	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	60.0	8.898	44.49	0	100
			Mono	43	90.7	2.634	17.27	25	100
C3	Conditional	TS	Bil	25	60.0	7.071	35.36	0	100
			Mono	43	94.2	2.862	18.77	0	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	59.0	7.053	35.27	0	100
			Mono	43	93.6	2.893	18.97	0	100
	Enclisis	TS	Bil	25	37.0	6.144	30.72	0	100
			Mono	43	65.1	4.716	30.93	0	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	32.0	5.867	29.33	0	75
			Mono	43	63.4	4.583	30.05	0	100
	PassiveLong	TS	Bil	25	68.0	7.433	37.17	0	100
			Mono	43	97.1	1.237	8.11	75	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	63.0	7.789	38.94	0	100
			Mono	43	97.1	1.237	8.11	75	100
	Proclisis	TS	Bil	25	29.0	6.874	34.37	0	100
			Mono	43	75.0	5.128	33.63	0	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	29.0	6.874	34.37	0	100
			Mono	43	75.0	5.128	33.63	0	100
	RelativeObj	TS	Bil	25	89.0	5.788	28.94	0	100
			Mono	43	99.4	0.581	3.81	75	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	86.0	6.137	30.69	0	100
			Mono	43	99.4	0.581	3.81	75	100
	WhichObject	TS	Bil	25	66.0	7.053	35.27	0	100
			Mono	43	95.3	1.716	11.25	50	100
		TS&Gra	Bil	25	54.0	7.455	37.28	0	100
			Mono	43	90.7	2.499	16.39	50	100

Note: SRT = Sentence Repetition Task; CLevel = level of complexity; SE = standard error; SD = standard deviation; Min. = minimum; Max. = maximum; TS = target structure; TS&Gra = target structure & grammaticality.

Table 6. Summary of the GLMM for the measure TS (Subset A1).^a

	TS
Predictors	Estimate	SE	CI	z	p
(Intercept)	4.32	0.47	3.40 – 5.24	9.21	<0.001
Age in months	1.00	0.34	0.33 – 1.67	2.91	0.004
Complexity (C1 vs. C2)	2.21	1.17	-0.08 – 4.50	1.89	0.059
Complexity (C3 vs. C2)	-2.35	0.54	-3.40 – -1.29	-4.35	<0.001
Group (Mono vs. Bil)	3.71	0.81	2.13 – 5.29	4.60	<0.001
Age in months * Complexity (C1 vs. C2)	-0.05	0.78	-1.57 – 1.47	-0.06	0.951
Age in months * Complexity (C3 vs. C2)	-0.40	0.24	-0.88 – 0.07	-1.68	0.093
Age in months * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	0.67	0.68	-0.67 – 2.01	0.98	0.327
Complexity (C1 vs. C2) * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	0.08	2.02	-3.87 – 4.04	0.04	0.967
Complexity (C3 vs. C2) * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	-0.66	0.58	-1.80 – 0.48	-1.13	0.257
Age in months * Complexity (C1 vs. C2) * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	-0.39	1.55	-3.43 – 2.65	-0.25	0.802
Age in months * Complexity (C3 vs. C2) * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	-0.82	0.48	-1.76 – 0.12	-1.70	0.088

Note: ^aThe fixed effects, their estimates, standard errors (SE), confidence intervals (CI), statistic (z), and p-values are given. Formula in R for the model TS: TS ~ Age in months * Complexity * Group + (1|Participant) + (1|Sentence). The reference level is bilingual for the variable group and level C2 for the variable level of complexity.

Abbreviation: GLMMs = generalized linear mixed-effects models; TS = target structure.

Table 7. Summary of the GLMMs for the measure TS&Gra (Subset A1).^a

	TS&Gra
Predictors	Estimate	SE	CI	z	p
(Intercept)	3.08	0.31	2.48 – 3.68	10.00	<0.001
Age in months	0.72	0.22	0.29 – 1.15	3.28	0.001
Complexity (C1 vs. C2)	1.59	0.64	0.33 – 2.85	2.48	0.013
Complexity (C3 vs. C2)	-1.29	0.45	-2.17 – -0.41	-2.87	0.004
Group (Mono vs. Bil)	3.29	0.46	2.39 – 4.18	7.17	<0.001
Age in months * Complexity (C1 vs. C2)	-0.22	0.30	-0.82 – 0.37	-0.73	0.464
Age in months * Complexity (C3 vs. C2)	-0.14	0.14	-0.42 – 0.13	-1.01	0.311
Age in months * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	0.52	0.44	-0.34 – 1.38	1.18	0.240
Complexity (C1 vs. C2) * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	0.34	0.73	-1.09 – 1.78	0.47	0.638
Complexity (C3 vs. C2) * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	0.10	0.31	-0.50 – 0.71	0.34	0.734
Age in months * Complexity (C1 vs. C2) * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	0.43	0.61	-0.76 – 1.62	0.72	0.475
Age in months * Complexity (C3 vs. C2) * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	-0.02	0.28	-0.57 – 0.52	-0.08	0.934

Note: ^aThe fixed effects, their estimates, standard errors (SE), confidence intervals (CI), statistic (z), and p-values are given. Formula in R for the model TS&Gra: TS_Gra ~ Age in months * Complexity * Group + (1|Participant) + (1|Sentence). The reference level is bilingual for the variable group and level C2 for the variable level of complexity. Abbreviations: GLMMs = generalized linear mixed-effects models; TS&Gra = target structure & grammaticality.

Figure 3. Measure TS: predicted probabilities of an accurate answer plotted by age, group and level of complexity.

Figure 4. Measure TS&Gra: predicted probabilities of an accurate answer plotted by age, group and level of complexity.

Table 8. Summary of the GLMMs for the measure TS (Subset A2).^a

	TS
Predictors (C1)	Estimate	SE	CI	z	p
(Intercept)	10.03	3.06	4.04 – 16.03	3.28	0.001
Age in months	1.32	1.79	-2.19 – 4.83	0.74	0.460
Group (Mono vs. Bil)	4.63	4.61	-4.40 – 13.66	1.00	0.315
Age in months * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	0.76	3.57	-6.25 – 7.76	0.21	0.833
Predictors (C2)
(Intercept)	4.50	0.52	3.49 – 5.52	8.68	<0.001
Age in months	1.37	0.37	0.64 – 2.09	3.69	<0.001
Group (Mono vs. Bil)	4.37	0.82	2.76 – 5.98	5.32	<0.001
Age in months * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	1.36	0.73	-0.07 – 2.79	1.86	0.062
Predictors (C3)
(Intercept)	2.11	0.46	1.21 – 3.01	4.58	<0.001
Age in months	0.74	0.25	0.26 – 1.22	3.01	0.003
Group (Mono vs. Bil)	3.37	0.51	2.38 – 4.37	6.67	<0.001
Age in months * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	0.23	0.49	-0.73 – 1.18	0.46	0.644

Note: ^aThe fixed effects, their estimates, standard errors (SE), confidence intervals (CI), statistic (z), and p-values are given. Formula in R for the models: TS ~ Age in months * Group + (1|Participant) + (1|Sentence). The reference level is bilingual for the variable group. Abbreviations: GLMMs = generalized linear mixed-effects models; TS = target structure.

Table 9. Summary of the GLMMs for the measure TS&Gra (Subset A2).^a

	TS&Gra
Predictors (C1)	Estimate	SE	CI	z	p
(Intercept)	4.59	0.66	3.30 – 5.88	6.97	<0.001
Age in months	0.79	0.43	-0.06 – 1.63	1.83	0.068
Group (Mono vs. Bil)	4.02	1.00	2.07 – 5.98	4.03	<0.001
Age in months * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	1.11	0.86	-0.58 – 2.80	1.29	0.198
Predictors (C2)
(Intercept)	3.02	0.38	2.28 – 3.77	7.97	<0.001
Age in months	0.91	0.24	0.44 – 1.38	3.77	<0.001
Group (Mono vs. Bil)	3.37	0.51	2.37 – 4.36	6.62	<0.001
Age in months * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	0.61	0.48	-0.33 – 1.54	1.28	0.202
Predictors (C3)
(Intercept)	1.83	0.45	0.95 – 2.70	4.10	<0.001
Age in months	0.71	0.24	0.24 – 1.18	2.94	0.003
Group (Mono vs. Bil)	3.45	0.49	2.48 – 4.41	6.99	<0.001
Age in months * Group (Mono vs. Bil)	0.31	0.48	-0.63 – 1.26	0.65	0.514

Note: ^aThe fixed effects, their estimates, standard errors (SE), confidence intervals (CI), statistic (z), and p-values are given. Formula in R for the models: TS&Gra ~ Age in months * Group + (1|Participant) + (1|Sentence). The reference level is bilingual for the variable group. Abbreviations: GLMMs = generalized linear mixed-effects models; TS&Gra = target structure & grammaticality.

Table 10. Summary of the GLMMs for the measure TS (Set B).^a

	TS
Predictors	Estimate	SE	CI	z	p
(Intercept)	2.73	0.43	1.89 – 3.58	6.36	<0.001
Age in months	0.93	0.46	0.02 – 1.83	2.00	0.045
Complexity (C1 vs. C2)	2.21	0.70	0.82 – 3.59	3.13	0.002
Complexity (C3 vs. C2)	-2.18	0.52	-3.20 – -1.16	-4.20	<0.001
C.EXP.HL	0.27	0.45	-0.62 – 1.15	0.58	0.559
HL.RICHNESS	1.09	0.45	0.22 – 1.97	2.44	0.015

Note. ^aThe fixed effects, their estimates, standard errors (SE), confidence intervals (CI), statistic (z), and p-values are given. Formula in R for the model TS: TS ~ Age in months + Complexity + C.EXP.HL + HL.RICHNESS + (1|Participant) + (1|Sentence). The reference level is level C2 for the variable level of complexity. Abbreviations: GLMMs = generalized linear mixed-effects models; TS = target structure.

Table 11. Summary of the GLMM for the measure TS&Gra (Set B).^a

	TS&Gra
Predictors	Estimate	SE	CI	z	p
(Intercept)	1.67	0.39	0.91 – 2.43	4.32	<0.001
Age in months	0.87	0.43	0.04 – 1.71	2.04	0.041
Complexity (C1 vs. C2)	1.49	0.63	0.26 – 2.72	2.37	0.018
Complexity (C3 vs. C2)	-1.46	0.50	-2.43 – -0.49	-2.95	0.003
C EXP HL	0.17	0.42	-0.65 – 0.99	0.40	0.686
HL RICHNESS	1.06	0.42	0.24 – 1.87	2.55	0.011

Note: ^aThe fixed effects, their estimates, standard errors (SE), confidence intervals (CI), statistic (z), and p-values are given. Formula in R for the model TS: TS&Gra ~ Age in months + Complexity + C.EXP.HL + HL.RICHNESS + (1|Participant) + (1|Sentence). The reference level is level C2 for the variable level of complexity. Abbreviations: GLMMs = generalized linear mixed-effects models; TS&Gra = target structure & grammaticality.

Figure 5. Measure TS (Set B): predicted probabilities of an accurate answer plotted by age, richness of the HL input (HL.RICHNESS) and level of complexity.

Figure 6. Measure TS&Gra (Set B): predicted probabilities of an accurate answer plotted by age, richness of the HL input (HL.RICHNESS) and level of complexity.

Data Availability Statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly.