Varieties of DP recursion: Syntax, semantics, and acquisition

Our objective is to shed light on recursion through an exploration of the L1 development of four DP structures in English. Since recursion is in narrow syntax, there is no reason to expect asymmetries between constructions but specific formal differences between structures might make acquisition of certain forms more difficult, and there may be differences according to meaning classes. We report a study targeting possessives, comitatives, locatives, and part-whole expressions, each with 2-level embedding. The results reveal statistically significant effects of age and condition, with no interaction. Possessives and comitatives develop earlier than locatives and relatives, and are also more productive for adults. These results help us to delineate the domain of recursion and formulate a credible developmental scenario.