The Role of Cross-Linguistic Variation in the Acquisition of Auxiliary Inversion in Wh-questions

This paper addresses two central issues related to the problem of auxiliary inversion in English wh-questions: 1) there are multiple proposals of the source of the error but none can explain the data in full; 2) the data on children’s wh-questions are inconsistent, due to differences in methods and techniques. We propose that language-specific structural characteristics of the target grammar (e.g., variable movement of the auxiliary across clause types in English) determine the types of errors children produce and the length of time required for acquisition. To test the hypothesis that cross-linguistic variation accounts for different patterns in acquisition, we conducted a cross-sectional study combining observation of spontaneous speech and elicited imitation to compare Englishand Bulgarian-speaking children’s production of wh-questions. Bulgarian differs from English in several crucial aspects that, we predict, will result in earlier mastery of inversion in wh-questions in Bulgarian compared to English. The relevant properties are: a) obligatory inversion of both auxiliaries and verbs in wh-questions; b) inversion in all wh-questions, whether matrix or embedded; c) lack of homonymy of relative and interrogative pronouns (e.g., where).