Acquisition of Relativization: French

In this chapter, a first cross-linguistic test of our leading hypothesis is reported. This chapter presents the design and results of an experiment testing the production of relativization in French, including both headed and headless forms, by children in Belgium. Consistent experimental design and methods allow comparison across French and English. Analyses of the grammatical variation in relativization across English and French allowed investigation of the interaction of language-specific factors in this next test of our leading hypothesis. Results are consistent with the hypothesized developmental primacy of headless relativization. They also reveal the nature of children’s mapping between principles of Universal Grammar and specific language grammar (Grammatical Mapping). The concept of ‘grammatical transparency’ is introduced.