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The acquisition of control in European Portuguese

  • Celina Agostinho , Ana Lúcia Santos and Inês Duarte
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Complement Clauses in Portuguese
This chapter is in the book Complement Clauses in Portuguese

Abstract

We offer a new insight on the acquisition of control, by considering data from Portuguese. We explore two main issues: (i) the distinction between obligatory control and non-obligatory control and (ii) choice of controller. Our results show that children distinguish certain obligatory and non-obligatory control contexts: children accepted a sentence-external antecedent in infinitival subjects but not in infinitival complements. Additionally, our study confirms previous results suggesting that subject control in promise-type contexts is delayed. However, it equally shows that there is no absolute bias for object control at early stages. We evaluate predictions made by contemporary accounts of control, namely the movement theory of control (Hornstein, 1999) and the theory of control as Agree (Landau, 2000, and subsequent work).

Abstract

We offer a new insight on the acquisition of control, by considering data from Portuguese. We explore two main issues: (i) the distinction between obligatory control and non-obligatory control and (ii) choice of controller. Our results show that children distinguish certain obligatory and non-obligatory control contexts: children accepted a sentence-external antecedent in infinitival subjects but not in infinitival complements. Additionally, our study confirms previous results suggesting that subject control in promise-type contexts is delayed. However, it equally shows that there is no absolute bias for object control at early stages. We evaluate predictions made by contemporary accounts of control, namely the movement theory of control (Hornstein, 1999) and the theory of control as Agree (Landau, 2000, and subsequent work).

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