On the acquisition of verb argument structure

The present study explores two domains in Scandinavian child language devel opment where the encoding of arguments to verbs shows a variable distributi on. The first domain is grammatical subjects in an early phase of developme nt when the 90% criterion is not yet attained. The second domain is spatial arguments (landmarks and location). It is argued that the encoding of subj ects as well as of spatial arguments represents multiple constraint-satisfa ction processes (encompassing both grammatical constraints and pragmatic co nstraints) and that the masterly of these constraints is a longterm achieve ment rather than something that happens suddenly in the course of acquisiti on. Many previous studies have focused on missing arguments especially miss ing subjects and asked what mechanisms make possible argument ellipsis. In contrast, our focus is on arguments that are actually present and on why ch ildren bother to encode arguments to begin with. In particular, we argue th at input factors and pragmatic factors form an important part of the explan ation for the structure of the earliest phases of the acquisition of verb a rguments, irrespective of whether the arguments are traditionally considere d obligatory or optional from the point of view of the target grammar.