Triggering V2: the Amount of Input Needed for Parameter Setting in a Split-cp Model of Clause Structure

In this paper I argue that children generally need relatively little input evidence to set word order parameters. Within a type of Split-CP model of clause structure, where different clause types are assumed to have different heads in the CP domain, I suggest that children make no global search of the primary linguistic data, but scan the input for designated word order cues, focusing exclusively on the relevant clause type. I investigate child and adult data from a dialect of Norwegian (Tromsø), where there is verb movement and verb second (V2) word order in some clause types, but not in others. The findings show that target-consistent word order is attested early in the different clause types, regardless of input frequencies, and that there is no overgeneralization of word order from one construction to another. This is argued to be due to the heads in the CP domain providing separate input cues for word order in the different clause types.