ABSTRACT
In this study we have argued on the basis of cross-linguistic experimental data that children’s interpretation of definite articles and pronouns is partly determined by the incomplete acquisition of the feature content of the D-position. This leads four- and five-year-old Dutch children to interpret definite articles as expletive determiners, similar to the definite articles in Romance constructions of inalienable possession, and makes Dutch and Spanish speaking children interpret pronouns as SE-anaphors, like Dutch zich. This manifests itself in Dutch children’s non-adultlike acceptance of constructions of inalienable possession and the emergence of a Delay of Principle B Effect in ECM constructions in child Spanish.
