Macroparameter Learnability: An Algonquian Case Study Phil Branigan Memorial University Abstract Innu-aimûn morphosyntax includes operations of multiple head-movement triggered by attracting heads of several categorial types. This pattern is illustrated, and contrasted with the more restricted multiple head-movement patterns in }Hoan and Perenakan Javanese. A new macroparameter is postulated to cover the Innu- aimûn case, and Algonquian languages in general. A learnability problem is iden- tified, given the two language types discussed, and a proposal is made involving the relative order of acquisition of multiple head-movement parameter settings and functional category classification. 1 Introduction While the introduction of parameters into the set of conceptual tools available for linguistic theory has provided explanatory solutions for several critically important learnability problems, the notion of a parameter itself introduces thorny new ques- tions. One of these is how the search space for grammatical variation should be partitioned by the universally available parameters. Does universal grammar provide a largeish and unordered set of “microparameters”, as suggested by Kayne (2000)? Or do certain specific parameters carry more weight than others, and divide the grammatical search space into large sub-spaces, as Baker’s (1996, 2002) “macropa- rameter” model would imply? And if so, should macroparameters be thought of as grammatical primitives provided by universal grammar directly, as Baker proposes, or are they emergent phenomena which influence more fundamental parametric choices, as argued by Roberts (2011). This paper examines these questions through the prism of the grammar of Algonquian languages. Languages of this family have traditionally been classified as polysynthetic, and as such, they arguably belong to an area in the grammatical search space relatively distant from many of the well-studied Indo-European languages. At the same time, a rich scholarly literature which dates from the 19th century provides extensive documentation of the grammatical properties of a number of these languages. What I will show is that one of the major grammatical properties which distinguish languages of this family from others—the “genius” of Algonquian, in Sapir’s (1921) terminology—can be characterised accurately in parametric terms as reflecting a specific macroparameter setting, and that a comparison of the Algonquian macroparameter with related microparametric choices made in the specific unrelated 1