Resumptive Pronouns in English Relative Clauses

Abstract

We report elicited production and grammaticality judgment data from 3 experiments on the status of resumptive pronouns in English. The participants in 2 experiments were 82 children (aged 3;5-8;11) and 34 adults; the participants in 1 experiment were 89 children (also 3;5-8;11) and 20 adults. The adult data are interpreted in terms of a Minimalist account in which English-type resumptives are Spell-Outs of traces. For reasons of economy, they surface only when the trace is illicit. Children's production data resembled those of adults, but their judgment data included more acceptance of resumptives in extractable positions than did adults' data. Taking all the data together, we argue that the children's grammars are nevertheless on target and suggest that their overacceptance reflects parsing considerations. This study thus examined children's acquisition of syntax in light of the development of linguistic processing systems.