ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we review the non-native language (NNL) acquisition of non-canonical word orders, i.e., word order patterns that alternate with other word patterns (canonical word orders), occur rather infrequently in Target Language (TL) input and are associated with some kind of morphosyntactic or semantic restriction to which the canonical word order is not subject. This chapter surveys what non-canonical word orders in Interlanguage grammars can tell us about the initial state in NNL acquisition and about whether the cognitive principles that guide and restrict native language (L1) acquisition (principles of UG) also play the same role in (adult) NNL acquisition.
