Functional projections, markedness, and “root infinitives” in early child Greek

The aim of this paper is to determine whether there is an equivalent Root Infinitive stage for children acquiring a language which does not have an infinitive construction, namely Modern Greek. We find that in the typical Root Infinitive contexts Greek children use a verb form involving the suffix -i, which corresponds to the 3rd person singular suffix, as well as to a participial form. We argue that the data are best explained by treating the -i form as the participle, thus suggesting that the putative congener of the Root Infinitive need not be an infinitive. Under Rizzi's (1994) approach, we would in fact expect various non-finite verb forms to be attested in the main clauses of the youngest speakers of various languages