ABSTRACT
Relative clauses exhibit intriguing variation both within and across languages that creates opportunities to study the workings of syntax from an acquisitional perspective. An impressive panoply of research methods has been brought to bear on this phenomenon. After a concise survey of such tools, findings are first considered in the areas of L1 and heritage language acquisition before attention is focused on L2 research. Theoretical questions that have been addressed in L2 studies include the nature of crosslinguistic influence, the acquisition of syntax and prosody beyond a purported critical period, stages of acquisition, and subject-object asymmetries. The preponderance of the evidence reveals that learners can eventually converge on target language grammars, revealing a fully functional language faculty at work in adult L2 acquisition.
