The status of functional categories in child second language acquisition: evidence from the acquisition of CP Belma Haznedar Bog I aziçi University This study examines the status of the functional categories in child second language (L2) acquisition of English. Results from longitudinally collected data are reported, presenting counterevidence for recent hypotheses on early L2 acquisition that assume (1) a structure-building approach according to which the acquisition of functional categories follows an implicational sequence of development of VP–IP–CP (Vainikka and Young-Scholten, 1994; 1996a; 1996b; 1998); and (2) a direct relationship between the acquisition of inflectional morphology and the development of functional categories (Eubank, 1993/94; 1996; Vainikka and Young-Scholten, 1994; 1996a; 1996b; 1998).The child L2 data analysed in this article show that the development of CP is not implicationally contingent on the prior acquisition of IP. The data also suggest that the lack of morphological forms in interlanguage grammars reflects a problem with the realization of surface morphology, rather than an impairment in the domain of functional projections. I Introduction A major issue in recent second language (L2) acquisition research revolves around the status of functional categories in early stages of non-native grammars (e.g., Grondin, 1992; Eubank, 1993/94; 1996; Lakshmanan, 1993/94; Lakshmanan and Selinker, 1994; 1996; Schwartz and Sprouse, 1994; 1996; Vainikka and Young-Scholten, 1994; 1996a; 1996b; 1998; Gavruseva and Lardiere, 1996; Grondin and White, 1996; Henry and Tangney, 1996; White 1996; 1996; Haznedar, 1997; Kakazu and Lakshmanan, 2000; Haznedar, 2001). Much work on functional categories in L2 acquisition over the last several years has addressed the question of whether or not functional projections such as DP, IP and CP are present in the learner’s grammar from the start of acquisition. For some researchers, they are initially absent in interlanguage grammars and gradually develop in discrete stages on the basis of input (Vainikka and Young-Scholten 1994; 1996a; 1996b; 1998). As opposed to this © Arnold 2003 10.1191/0267658303sr212oa Address for correspondence: Bog  aziçi Üniversitesi, Eg itim Fakültesi, Yabanc‡ Diller Eg  itimi, Bebek-Istanbul 80815, Turkey; email: haznedab@boun.edu.tr Second Language Research 19,1 (2003); pp. 1–41