ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors draw on evidence from the acquisition of relative clauses to argue for the continuous accessibility of Complementizer Phrase (CP) features as well as for the validity of such features themselves. It reviews the specific role that CP features play in both lexically headed and free relative structures, explaining the differences that lead them to conclude that experience with free relatives may play a role for a learner developing the language-specific syntax for lexically headed structures. The chapter reviews evidence from studies of L1 acquisition of relative clauses. The free relative may lay the groundwork for the lexically headed clause regardless of which theoretical approach to headed relatives we adopt. However, the authors probe the role of branching direction.
