Abstract
There is a controversy about the structure and meaning of correlative clauses. According to the dominant view, correlatives are essentially (free) relative clauses attached in a non-canonical left-peripheral position (Srivastav 1991, Bhatt 2003, Liptak 2004).
A competing view holds that correlatives are akin to conditional antecedents (Bittner 2001, Brasoveanu 2008). Since conditionals are known to be acquired earlier than relative clauses (Reilly 1986, Diessel 2004), L1-acquisition of correlatives has a chance of shedding new light on the theoretical controversy.
We have designed a sentence imitation experiment and tested Czech preschool children in their ability to imitate correlatives and string-identical light-headed relatives, which differ only in their position: correlatives are left-peripheral and light-headed relatives are right-peripheral. Our results support the correlatives-as-conditionals analysis: correlatives received similar scores as conditionals and at the same time were significanlty easier to imitate than the corresopnding light-headed relatives.