Abstract:
The paper demonstrates that principles of universal grammar developed with reference to a number of typologically distinct languages can be applied effectively to account for acquisition order of nominal structures in Mandarin, an isolating Sinitic language. It is argued that an acquisition theory based on notions of universal grammar can effectively account for observed emergence order of nominal structures in the spontaneous speech of second language learners of Mandarin. Particular attention must be paid to developments in word order and collocation constraints, and the syntactic relationships they encode, rather than to the morphological changes that typically mark development in inflectional languages.