THE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH RESTRICTIVE RELATIVE CLAUSES BY CHINESE, JAPANESE, AND KOREAN ADULT NATIVE SPEAKERS

Research on the acquisition of English restrictive relative clauses (E RRCs) among L1/L2 learners has shown that universal linguistic factors substantially determine the learning processes rather than the peculi arities of particular languages and learning situations (cf. Sheldon, 1974a, 1974b, and 1977; Houston, 1978; Sadighi, 1982, and 1986). To th is end, this study examines the comprehension of ERRCs containing thre e universal factors - Interruption, Word Order Re-Arrangement, and Par allel function. The subjects are Chinese, Japanese, and Korean adult n ative speakers whose languages employ pre-nominal RC formation strateg y, a sharp contrast with the post-nominal strategy of English. The fin dings of this study support the dominance of language universals in th e course of language acquisition regardless of particular languages' s pecificities. Additionally, universals are seen to be accessible to bo th adults and children, and they remain intact maturationally (cf. Ble y-Vroman, R. W., Felix, S. W., and Ioup, G. I., 1988; and duPlessis, J ., Solin, D., Travis, L. and White, L., 1987).