Comments on Solan

Abstract

Experimental results are presented in Solan’s paper which demonstrate that there is a contrast between children’s interpretation of reflexives and pronouns and the interpretations that are assigned to these elements in the adult grammar. In brief summary, Solan found that both reflexives and pronouns are likely to end up bound in their governing categories — a situation what accords with Principle A of the Binding Theory (an anaphor is bound in its governing category), but that runs counter to Principle B (a pronominal is free in its governing category). In addition, Solan’s data also show violations of Principle A of the Binding Theory (anaphors were construed with an antecedent external to their governing category); these latter violations occurred more frequently in infinitival than in indicative clauses.

These comments are a response to the version of Larry Solan’s paper that was circulated prior to the conference. Depending on the form of the published version, my comments may turn out to be irrelevant or inaccurate. Apologies to Larry in advance. Preparation of the manuscript was supported in part by the MIT Center for Cognitive Science through a grant from the A. P. Sloan Foundation’s Program in Cognitive Science.