Knowledge of binding in normal and SLI children

The properties of reflexives vary across adult languages with respect to (i) the domain in which a reflexive may be bound and (ii) the syntactic positions an appropriate antecedent may occupy. These two issues have been approached in GB theory in various ways, each with specific implications for acquisition. In this paper we examine these implications by testing normal and Specific Language Impaired (SLI) children for evidence of the binding domain and orientation properties of their grammars. The investigation reveals that, contrary to most previous claims, normal children acquiring English pass through a long-distance binding stage. SLI children, however, do not display this pattern, tending instead to behave like very young normal children in requiring the nearest available NP to be the antecedent. We argue that this constitutes an early binding stage not previously identified. Finally, we interpret our findings in terms of a conception of acquisition dubbed the 'competing grammars' model, according to which competing incompatible grammars may coexist in the mind of the learner.