Backward Versus Forward Anaphora: Reconstruction in Child Grammar

Various cases of backward and forward anaphora are studied in a number of seemingly unrelated constructions and argued to be a manifestation of a unitary principle, namely Principle C of the Binding Theory (Chomsky, 1981; 1986). We point out an unexpected restriction on (forward) anaphora that is argued to be a case in which Principle C operates at the “reconstructed” level. Italian-speaking children manifest an early mastery of these constructions (age 3;10). Contrary to what several proposals may lead one to expect, the ability to correctly judge instances of forward anaphora and the ability to correctly judge instances of backward anaphora manifest themselves simultaneously. These results on one hand provide evidence in favor of a biologically determined mechanism subsuming both standard Principle C effects and cases of “reconstruction.” On the other hand, they support the view that certain cases of movement are, as they were, automatically “undone” when anaphoric dependencies are computed, as predicted by recent theories of movement as copying.