Some Evidence for and Against a “Proximity Strategy” in the Acquisition of Subject Control Sentences

Abstract

Within the framework of linguistic theories, anaphora was first dealt with exclusively from the structural point of view. In recent years however, various authors have highlighted the role of other aspects, in particular lexical, semantic, and pragmatic properties (see Wasow’s introduction to these volumes, 1986). All these different aspects interact in sentence comprehension, and their respective role during language acquisition has been studied in young children by different research teams. For instance, Warden (1981) and Marshall (1981) showed that sentences such as Ask/tell Johnny what color this is/what you had for breakfast may have different interpretations in different pragmatic contexts. Lust et al. (1980, 1981, and 1986) and Sherman (1983 and 1986) analysed the interaction of structural and pragmatic factors on the one hand, and structural and lexical factors on the other, in temporal and causal subordinate clauses. In their study, Garvey, Caramazza and Yates (1974–75) also found evidence of interaction between lexical properties and the structural interpretation of causal sentences.