After the Null Subject Parameter: Acquisition of the Null-Overt Contrast in Spanish. Issue 2 (3rd April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Forsythe, Hannah; Greeson, Daniel; Schmitt, Cristina
• Is Part Of: Language learning and development. Volume 18:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 171
• Page End: 200
• Publication Date: 2022-04-03
• Subjects: Language acquisition -- Research -- Periodicals; Children -- Language -- Periodicals; 401.9305
• DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2021.1941967
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1547-5441

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In many so-called canonical null subject languages, null and overt subject pronouns have contrasting referential preferences: null subjects tend to maintain reference to the preceding subject while overt pronominal subjects do not. We propose that children acquire this contrast by initially restricting their attention to 1 st and 2 nd person pronouns, whose reference is simpler to infer compared to 3 rd person pronouns. We provide supporting evidence from spontaneous production and comprehension in Mexico City Spanish, showing that (i) the null/overt contrast is in principle acquirable from exclusively observing the referential preferences of 1 st and 2 nd person subject pronouns in caretaker speech; (ii) children themselves condition subject pronoun expression on pronoun reference in the 1 st and 2 nd persons before doing so in the 3 rd person; and (iii) children use the null/overt contrast in comprehension at a similar age when they begin making this distinction in production.