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literature seems to agree on the pivotal role that processes of second language acquisition/processing play in rapid language change. Idiscuss the role of the bilingual part of the population in the contact situation, arguing that they are the real instantiators of the shift toanother variety, thereby creating and establishing a new emerging language. In this scenario, the process of relexification finds itsnatural place.Tonjes Veenstra (Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin) Session 90Verb allomorphy in French-related creolesIn French-related creoles a distinction between long and short forms of verbs is made. Although it sometimes seems to bephonologically governed, this distinction also correlates with syntactic properties. Interestingly, the syntactic correlation differs in(almost) each French creole. Focusing on Morisyen, Haitian & Louisianais, I argue that (1) the initial pattern is due to universalprocesses of SLA; (2) the alternation started out as a phonological phenomenon (as it still is in Haitian Creole, HC); and (3) it wassubsequently grammaticalized in MC. I present a phase-theoretic analysis of the alternation.Shelley L. Velleman (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) Session 59Barbara Z. Pearson (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)Timothy J. Bryant (University of New Hampshire)Tiffany Charko (Agawam Public Schools)The impact of dialect on the rate & order of phonological developmentDevelopmental mastery of phonetic and phonotactic features is compared in 537 learners of AAE vs 317 learners of MainstreamAmerican English (MAE) from 4 to 12 years. The later acquisition of certain segments and structures by speakers of AAE isconfirmed; their earlier mastery of other elements and structures is reported. Patterns of acquisition are affected by the frequenciesand salience of elements and structures of the first dialect. Non-target productions are more likely to be phonetic for MAE learners,phonotactic for AAE learners. This difference increases with age, but it is significant even at age 4.Anna Verbuk (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) Session 52Why Children do not compute irrelevant scalar implicaturesOn the neo-Gricean view of scalar implicatures (SIs), hearers compute SIs on the basis of Gricean reasoning. In contexts where onlythe weaker scalar item is relevant, an SI is not generated (Horn 1984). On Chierchia's (2004) semantic account, SIs are defaultinferences; this account overgenerates SIs. My experiment tested between the two accounts. Subjects were 40 English-speakingchildren (4;3-7;7). The experimental results supported the neo-Gricean account. It was found that children did not go through a stagewhere they compute both relevant and irrelevant SIs. Also, children did equally well on computing SIs based both on Horn andpragmatic scales.Joshua Viau (Northwestern University) Session 15Asymmetric c-command within the dative verb phrase at age 4Relatively little attention has been paid to establishing what specific representations children have for dative verbs like give and sendand how and when they learn them. I address the issue by presenting experimental evidence that a binding asymmetry exists in 4-year-old children's representations of such verbs (Barss & Lasnik 1986). The findings suggest that in both double-object andprepositional dative constructions the first internal argument c-commands the second, but not vice versa. We can conclude that 4-year-old children have the same hierarchical structure within the dative verb phrase that has been posited for adults (e.g. Larson 1988).Margaret Wade-Lewis (State University of New York, New Paltz) Session 92Lorenzo Dow Turner & the development of creole studies in the U.S.While Lorenzo Dow Turner, the first linguist to collect data among speakers of Gullah (Sea Island Creole), is well-known forAfricanisms in the Gullah dialect (1949), his contribution has not generally been conceptualized as part of a larger movement towardthe Americanization of linguistics and the development of creole studies. Analyzing archival evidence--letters, programs fromconferences and other data—I demonstrate that Turner was well-connected with Hans Kurath and his other peers in the LinguisticAtlas Project, the American Dialect Society, and scholars in the Caribbean and Latin America who collectively forged the creation ofcreole studies.171