| Abstract (about 50 words): | The present study investigates whether the interpretative mechanisms for referential expressions proposed by Accessibility Theory (Ariel 1990) are used by speakers of Romanian. It explores the interpretation of subject pronominals (pro, el, acesta) embedded in subjunctive complements by Romanian-speaking typically-developing (pre)school children and adults. The predictions of Accessibility Theory are confirmed for adult Romanian, while, in child Romanian, there is evidence of a developmental path in which general interpretative mechanisms are acquired first, while the specific accessibility degrees of referential expressions undergo piecemeal development. |