The acquisition of Italian : morphosyntax and its interfaces in different modes of acquisition

Language acquisition is a complex phenomenon in which internal and external factors inevitably interact in complex ways. The point of departure of this work is an approach to the study of the human language capacity according to which newborn children are equipped with (more or less) structured internal language-dedicated mechanisms. These mechanisms are put into work through interaction with the external environment and the language data it provides. A major contribution to the study of language acquisition and language development in this perspective inspired by theoretical linguistics, has been made by research on the acquisition of Italian syntax. This book offers an updated overview of results from theory-driven experimental and corpus-based research on the acquisition of Italian in different modes (monolingual, early and late L2, SLI, etc.), as well as exploring possible developments for future research. The book focuses on experimental studies which address research questions generated by linguistic theory, providing a detailed illustration of the fruitful interaction between linguistic theorising and developmental studies.The specific perspective adopted is within the tradition inaugurated by the Principles & Parameters (P&P) approach to the study of language and its more recent developments in minimalism and syntactic cartography.