scholarly journals Referential Subject and Object Gaps in Modern Icelandic

Nordlyd ◽  
10.7557/12.8 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Pouplier
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Null Objects ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
Coordinate Structures

This paper investigates the nature of subject and object gaps in coordinate structures in Modern Icelandic. Modern Icelandic is considered to be a semi-<em>pro</em>-drop language, since it generally licenses only generic null subjects; object gaps only occur in the form of topic drop. Nevertheless it has been argued that MI licenses referential subject <em>pro</em> as well as referential object <em>pro</em> in certain (tightly restricted) contexts. This assumption is based on the existence of coordinating constructions that exhibit referential subject and object gaps at the same time. While this paper follows previous proposals in assuming subject <em>pro</em> to be licit in coordinate structures, object argument gaps are assumed to be object-topic drop, which is independetly needed in the grammar of Icelandic. Under the analysis presented here, the previously reported null subject condition on null objects falls out from Icelandic word order facts.

ASYMMETRY OF NULL SUBJECTS AND NULL OBJECTS IN CHINESE SPEAKERS' L2 ENGLISH

1997 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boping Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Null Subjects ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Null Objects ◽  
Null Object ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
L1 Acquisition ◽  
Chinese And English

One of the differences between Chinese and English is that the former allows both null subjects in finite sentences and null objects, but the latter allows neither. This cross-linguistic variation is believed to be related to the underspecification of I and topic drop in Chinese but not in English. This paper reports on an empirical study investigating the unlearning of null subjects and null objects by 159 Chinese learners in their L2 acquisition of English. In L1 acquisition, it has been found that English-speaking children display an asymmetry by frequently allowing null subjects but rarely null objects. The results of this study indicate that there is an asymmetry in Chinese learners' L2 English, which, however, is opposite to that found in English L1 acquisition: Chinese learners are able to reject the incorrect null subject in English, but unable to detect the ungrammaticality of the null object. It is proposed that the unlearning of null subjects by Chinese learners of English is triggered by the evidence in their input indicating the specification of AGR(eement) and T(ense) in English, and that the difficulty in the unlearning of null objects is related to the lack of informative evidence to unset the [+ topic-drop] setting in Chinese learners' L2 English.

A minimalist approach to null subjects and objects in second language acquisition

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyeson Park
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Feature Learning ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Null Objects ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Korean Type

Studies of the second language acquisition of pronominal arguments have observed that: (1) L1 speakers of null subject languages of the Spanish type drop more subjects in their second language (L2) English than first language (L1) speakers of null subject languages of the Korean type and (2) speakers of Korean-type languages drop more objects than subjects in their L2 English. An analysis of these two asymmetries is conducted within the Minimalist Program framework (MP), which hypothesizes that language acquisition involves the learning of formal features of a target language.I propose, based on Alexiadou and Anagnostopoulou (1998), that the licensing of null subjects is conditioned by the interpretability of agreement features. When a language has [+interpretable] agreement features, raising of the verb to T (X-movement) satisfies the EPP requirement: hence, a null subject is allowed. On the other hand, in a language with [-interpretable] agreement features, the subject is obligatory since merger of the subject in the specifier of TP (XP-merge) is required to check the EPP feature. Learning of the obligatory status of English subjects is easier for Korean learners than for Spanish speakers since syntactically both English and Korean have the same feature value [-interpretable] (although null subjects are allowed in Korean for pragmatic reasons). Spanish has the opposite syntactic feature value [+interpretable] and resetting of this is more difficult. Licensing of null objects is hypothesized to be related to the strength of theta-features. Languages with strong theta-features, such as English and Spanish, do not allow null objects, whereas languages with weak theta-features like Korean allow null objects. It takes time for Korean speakers to learn the different value of English theta-features, resulting in the extended null object period in L2 English of Korean L1 speakers.

Null Subjects in Old English

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elly van Gelderen
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Null Arguments ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
English I

I review the proposal made by Sigurðsson (2011) that null arguments follow from third-factor principles, as in Chomsky 2005 . A number of issues remain unclear: for instance, the kind of topic that licenses null arguments in Modern Germanic, including Modern English. I argue that Old English is pro drop and add to the discussion Frascarelli (2007) started as to which topic licenses a null subject. I agree with Frascarelli and Hinterhölzl (2007) that the licensing topic in Modern Germanic and Old English is an aboutness-shift topic. I also argue that verb movement to C is necessary to license the empty argument in the modern Germanic languages (including Modern English), but not in Old English, since agreement is still responsible for licensing in that language, as in Italian.

scholarly journals Topic, Focus and null subjects in Old French

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Ingham
Keyword(s):  
Observational Study ◽  
Old French ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
Quantitative Investigation ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Prose Romances ◽  
Discourse Syntax

AbstractOld French subject pronouns (Spro) were omissible if postverbal (Foulet 1928), but not freely so (Vance 1997, Zimmermann 2014). This article addresses their partial omissibility in discourse-syntax terms, following work on partial null subject languages by Holmberg and Nikanne (2002) and Modesto (2008). An observational study of dialogic responses in 13th century prose romances is first reported, finding strong indications of covariation between the Topic/Focus status of an initial non-subject constituent and the expression/omission of post-verbal Spro. A quantitative investigation, in such texts, of preposed discourse-linked anaphoric constituents and preposed intensifiers, taken as diagnostic of Topichood and Focushood respectively, confirmed this analysis. We take null Spro to be available (i) when a null Topic operator targets left-peripheral TopicP, and (ii) with a left-peripheral Focused expression. When a discourse-linked non-subject constituent occupies TopicP, however, Spro must be overt.

Polysynthesis in Ainu

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Bugaeva
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Heavy Element ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Noun Incorporation ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
Single Complex ◽  
General Object

Ainu is a typical polysynthetic language in that a single complex verb can express what takes a whole sentence in most other languages. A single verb form may include more than one heavy element: up to two applicative prefixes (out of three), two causative suffixes (out of five), two incorporated objects, one lexical prefix (out of two originating in nouns ‘head’ and ‘bottom’), one verbalizing suffix (originating in the verb ‘make’), as well as reciprocal, reflexive, and general object (=antipassive) prefixes and agreement affixes for the first/second person subject and object. The degree of combinability of voice markers and noun incorporation is spectacular. Nevertheless, it has been claimed that Ainu deviates from more typical polysynthetic languages in having less freedom of word order, interrogative phrases in situ, and unrestricted morphological causatives (Baker 1996). This chapter aims to distinguish what Ainu shares with other polysynthetic languages from what is unique.

The Acquisition of Null Subjects in Standard Arabic by Native Speakers of English

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-420
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Null Subject Parameter ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Discourse Topic

This paper investigates the acquisition of the syntactic and discourse-pragmatic properties of null subjects in Standard Arabic (SA) by native speakers of English. Ninety participants from intermediate and advanced levels participated in a questionnaire, which aimed to investigate their knowledge on the occurrence of null subjects in SA. The results show that native speakers of English with regard to missing subject and free inversion face no difficulty in the acquisition of the syntactic properties of the null subject parameter in SA; however, they have difficulties in the acquisition of that-trace effect. In terms of discourse-pragmatic properties, the results of the study illustrate that they can also easily acquire the discourse topic and pragmatic anaphora properties of null subjects in SA. Keywords: Null Subjects, free inversion, that-trace effect, discourse topic, pragmatic anaphora, parameter.

On the Acquisition of French (Null) Subjects and (In)Definiteness: Simultaneous and Early Sequential bi-, tri- and Multilinguals

Probus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-225
Author(s):  
Laia Arnaus Gil ◽  
Johanna Stahnke ◽  
Natascha Müller
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Timing Acquisition ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Null Subject Parameter ◽  
Definite Articles ◽  
Linguistic Approaches ◽  
Early Late

Abstract The French non-null-subject parameter is set very early, irrespective of the number of languages acquired. By contrast, the acquisition of (in)definiteness marking takes place at age 11;0. For early parametrized grammatical phenomena, Tsimpli (Tsimpli, Ianthi Maria. 2014. Early, late or very late? Timing acquisition and bilingualism. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 4(3). 283–313.) argues that age of onset (AoO) matters. For late acquired phenomena, language experience is crucial. We recruited 23 simultaneous and 34 early sequential L2 (eL2) learners of French (mean age 4;6). Using an elicitation task, we examined the production of French subjects and (in)definite articles. All children behaved similarly with respect to the (early) setting of the null-subject parameter. In contrast, (in)definite marking was sensitive to number of languages and age; AoO or input effects did not affect the results. Simultaneous multilinguals diverge from eL2 children, showing subject spell-out preferences, interpreted in terms of acquisition phases. We will discuss this result against a model of language acquisition in which the child proceeds in acquisition stages.

Null subjects

2019 ◽  
pp. 191-300
Author(s):  
Ian Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Null Subjects ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Null Arguments ◽  
Null Pronouns ◽  
General Account ◽  
Article System ◽  
Historical Sketch

After a brief historical sketch of work on null subjects, and a summary of Barbosa’s proposals concerning the relation between partial and radical null subjects, the chapter presents a typology of null arguments which links their properties directly to the D-system, suggesting a cross-linguistic link between the nature of the null-subject system and the nature of the ‘article system’ in a given language. After a brief consideration of the semantics of null pronouns and the role of the Person feature in licensing null arguments, a general account of ‘licensing pro’ is put forward, which relies on the twin ideas that pro contains a variable and that all variables must be bound at the C–I interface. Finally, there is an updated and refined parameter hierarchy for φ‎-parameters. The question of the relation of variation in these features to the C–I interface and the morphophonological interface is also taken up.

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