This volume presents a study on the acquisition of English restrictive relative clauses (RRCs) by Hungarian speakers through an investigation of two universal principles—subjacency and the empty category principle (ECP)—and consideration of how the different instantiation of these two principles and the different parametric settings of the languages play a role in the interlanguage development of first language (L1) Hungarian learners of English as a second language (L2). Assuming the generative theory of Universal Grammar (UG), the objective of the study is to investigate whether Hungarian learners of English provide particular evidence for the partial availability of UG in their interlanguage grammar—also known as the partial access view of UG—or provide evidence for other views, such as the no access or the full access view, considering both the weak and strong versions.

According to the data obtained in the study, the author argues that although learners are capable of assigning a movement analysis to English RRCs, they showed a serious deficiency in their knowledge of movement when they were tested with sentences that contained multiple embeddings or multiple wh-phrase movements. The findings of the study showed that Hungarian learners of English tolerated subjacency violations in the English sentences at all levels of proficiency. The author argues that the difference in the number of available movement positions between the two languages (specifier, complementizer phrase in English; and specifier, focus phrase vs. specifier, complementizer phrase in Hungarian) leads learners to misanalyze locality requirements.

The volume consists of six chapters organized according to the study of RRCs. Chapter 1 introduces the theoretical questions that guide the study and examines the assumptions that underlie the study of SLA by reviewing the positions considered in the literature on the availability of UG in the learner's grammar. Following the principles and parameters approach to the theoretical framework of UG, chapter 2 presents the syntactic properties of Hungarian clause structures in general as well as the properties of Hungarian and English restrictive relative clauses. The chapter ends with a comparison of the landing sites for wh-phrases in English and Hungarian. Chapter 3 presents the research background on the acquisition of RRCs. The chapter reviews studies that consider the noun phrase accessibility hierarchy and its relation to L1 transfer, studies that involve processing approaches in the acquisition of relative clauses, and UG-based studies. In chapter 4, the experimental design and methods of data analysis are presented. Chapter 5 presents the results of the data obtained in the experiment, and chapter 6 discusses the results in terms of their relevance to the research questions proposed and the general objectives of the study.

This book is well written and gives a clear analysis of the syntactic structure of Hungarian clauses; in particular, the author provides a thorough description of movement constraints of Hungarian wh-phrases and relative clauses. The author follows up with a comparison of movement restrictions in both languages, Hungarian and English, and gives predictions for how the parametric differences might affect the interlanguage grammar of Hungarian learners of English. Because this study investigates principles of UG that are instantiated in the L2 but not in the L1, it provides new evidence for the partial access to UG view, which should be of interest to researchers who claim that parameters cannot be reset once the L2 learner has reached a certain age. However, this claim could have been made stronger if a study on L1 English learners of L2 Hungarian could show a similar developmental pattern in their interlanguage grammar (locality requirements are more restricted in English than in Hungarian).

Overall, the volume brings new insights to the degrees of availability of UG to L2 learners, and it should be of interest to researchers as well as to advanced students of SLA. The research presented in this volume, by exploring languages that are parametrically very different, contributes to the advancement of knowledge on the acquisition of movement and empty categories as it relates to RRCs.