Evidence from L1 acquisition for the syntax of wh-scope marking in French *

We argue for alternative wh-scope marking strategies in the acquisition of LD-questions. Direct Dependency involves a matrix non-referential wh-scope marker licensing a medial referential wh-phrase. L1 Partial wh-movement is well-documented cross-linguistically.We take the claim that children go through a stage involving wh-scope marking strategies, ungrammatical in the target language but reflecting parametric settings of other languages, a step further by arguing for the existence of L1 Indirect wh-Dependencies: thematrix scope marker is a referential wh-phrase quantifying over propositions, restricted by a subordinate wh-question over individuals. In L1 French, the matrix and subordinate wh-phrases appear in-situ or locally fronted, transparently reflecting the covert/overt syntax of Hindi wh-questions (Dayal 2000).We conclude that the syntax of L1 scope marking should be correlated with the acquisition of complementation.