The purpose of this paper is to investigate agreement-feature checking and English root infinitives in child language from the perspective of Minimalist Program. To explain this apparent derivation from the target adult gram- mar, researchers have elaborated two main models. One is the Tense Omission Model and the other is the Truncation Model. Wexler (1994) proposes in the former that an optional infinitive clause arises when the child leaves the tense feature underspecified in a given clausal represen- tation. Rizzi (1993/1994) proposes in the latter that the Root Infinitive reduces structures that result from the option of truncating structures at different levels of the clausal architecture. A further expectation would be that nominative Case is not assigned properly if AgrP is not yet projected. In the Minimalist Program, T inherits Agree-feature from C, but root infinitive clauses don`t have TP. Therefore, in children`s speech, functional projections are truncated below CP. The phenomena of early language acquisition reflects the process of acquiring functional categories as children grow.

• 주영숙(부산외국어대학교) | Young Sook Joo