Running head: Segmental and Prosodic Structure in Acquisition

This paper summarises some of the findings discussed in my dissertation, Headedness and Prosodic Licensing in the L1 Acquisition of Phonology, which was defended at McGill University in December 2000. I am deeply grateful to Heather Goad for being a constant support throughout my graduate studies at McGill, as well as for her numerous and thorough readings of my work, challenging questions and very helpful suggestions. I am also indebted to Glyne Piggott for his support as well as for useful comments on many aspects of my analyses. The methodology used for the gathering and sampling of the French data was elaborated within the Acquisition of Phonology Research Project, which took place under an FCAR grant to H. Goad at McGill University. Part of the funding also came from the Harmony Research Project, funded by a SSHRCC grant to G. Piggott and H. Goad. Finally, I would like to thank two ARLA reviewers for their feedback on the original version of this paper. Of course, I am solely responsible for all errors or omissions. This research was supported by a SSHRCC doctoral fellowship #752-95-1415 and postdoctoral fellowship #756-2000-0235