Acquisition and change: On the robustness of the triggering experience for word order cues

Focusing on word order variation mainly from present-day Norwegian dialects, this paper discusses mixed verb-second (V2) both synchronically and diachronically and develops a theory of language acquisition and change which is based on the existence of micro-cues expressed in the input. Data from child-directed speech are investigated with respect to frequencies of particular clause types and examples requiring exceptional word orders (related to specific lexical elements). Child language data from Norwegian are presented to show that mixed V2 is acquired early, regardless of the different input frequencies, even in exceptional cases. Within a split-CP model of clause structure, it is argued that the search domain for word order cues is not the overall input, but restricted to individual clause types and other linguistically relevant categories and subcategories that children must be sensitive to in the acquisition process. Consequently, several micro-cues for V2 are identified. With respect to language change, this means that diachronic development should affect one micro-cue at a time, giving the impression that change is gradual.