Null-subject language

Abstract: In this paper a novel approach to (a subpart of) the null subject parameter is proposed, in which the interpretation of a thematic pro in subject position is crucially dependent on the syntax and discourse properties of Topic constituents. Based on the analysis of spoken corpora and interface considerations, evidence is provided that preverbal ‘subjects’ sit in an A’-position in a null subject language like Italian and that the interpretation of referential null subjects depends on a matching relation (Agree) with a specific type of Topic. In a cartographic approach to discourse functions, this is identified with the Aboutness-shift Topic (Frascarelli and Hinterholzl 2007) that is merged in the C-domain and is endowed with the edge feature [+aboutness] – an ‘extended EPP feature’. A Topic Criterion is thus proposed that correlates core grammar with discourse requirements and accounts for the syntactic identification of a referential pro. The Avoid Pronoun Principle is reinterpreted as a structural condition that implies the existence of silent Topics.

Abstract: In The Syntactic Recoverability of Null Arguments Roberge studies the syntactic properties of subject and object clitic pronouns in several Romance languages and dialects from the perspective of the Principles-and-Parameters framework in generative grammar. He is able to make important claims through a comparative study of various rarely discussed French dialects, Spanish dialects, and Italian, and concludes that French should be analysed as a null subject language like many others in the Romance family. Roberge's parameters are so carefully detailed as to allow tests to be drawn up for both first and second language learners. As such, The Syntactic Recoverability of Null Arguments will be of interest not only to syntacticians and dialectologists but also to researchers in the field of language acquisition.

Abstract: A stage of optional infinitive (OI) production has been identified in typically developing (TD) children learning languages that do not permit null subjects (Wexler (1994; 1998; 1999)), and this stage has been shown to be extended in at least English- and German-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI; Rice, Noll, and Grimm (1997), Rice, Wexler, and Cleave (1995)). Although TD children learning null subject languages do not go through an OI stage (Bar-Shalom and Snyder (1997), Guasti (1993)), reports differ concerning whether children with SLI learning these languages go through this stage (Bortolini, Caselli, and Leonard (1997), Bottari, Cipriani, and Chilosi (1996)). In this article, we present evidence from Inuktitut, a null subject language not yet investigated with respect to OIs. We show that although TD children learning Inuktitut do not go through an OI stage, one child with SLI does go through an OI stage. In addition, the percentage of finite verb forms marked with an overt verb...