*Linguistic Theory; *Pronouns; Time Factors

Most linguists assume that bound anaphors such as "himself " are connected with their antecedents in a different way from free anaphors such as "him. " Bound anaphora resolution is deterministic, based on Principle A of Chomsky's binding theory. Free anaphors, pronominals, cannot be bound in the domain of reflexives (principle B); their interpretation is largely determined by non-grammatical factors. Thus, the resolution of bound and free anaphors exploits different modules of knowledge. Since different kinds of knowledge are involved, a reasonable expectation is that a different development can be found for the two kinds of anaphor resolution in language acquisition. To test this expectation, experimental studies investigated how Dutch children aged 4 to 10 interpret sentences involving reflexive and non-reflexive anaphors. The results showed a difference in the rates of acquisition for the two types of anaphors. This experimental finding is taken as support for the view that bound anti free anaphora resolution involve different kinds of knowledge. (Author/MSE) ************************4********************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document.