Cover not available
Part of
Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 11: Selected papers from the 44th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), London, Ontario
Edited by Silvia Perpiñán, David Heap, Itziri Moreno-Villamar and Adriana Soto-Corominas
[Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 11] 2017
► pp. 209–227

Chapter 10
Null subjects in the early acquisition of English by child heritage speakers of Spanish

| Rutgers University
| Rutgers University
| Rutgers University
This paper investigates the development of English and Spanish subject production in 8 heritage bilingual children (age range: 4;1–5;3; mean age: 4;7). Oral production of overt and null subjects was assessed using a picture-based story re-telling task and a description task. Subjects were coded according to type (overt or null), and pragmatic function (new information, topic continuation, recovery, contrast and change of topic). Results indicate a robust distribution of pragmatically appropriate subjects in Spanish; however, non adult-like null subjects were also found in a subset of the English utterances. We propose that cross-linguistic influence from Spanish encouraged children to have more than one grammar available (Amaral & Roeper 2014), with the option to treat English as a null-subject language.
Keywords: heritage bilinguals, child bilingualism, cross-linguistic influence, null subjects, acquisition of Spanish, acquisition of English
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Analyzing null and overt subjects
    • 2.1Verbal morphology and the distinction between null and overt subject languages
    • 2.2Pragmatic conditions on null and overt subjects in Spanish
  • 3.Early acquisition of null and overt subjects
    • 3.1Research questions
  • 4.The present study
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Methodology
  • 5.Results
  • 6.Discussion and implications for future studies
    • 6.1Analysis
    • 6.2Dominance and functionality as key factors influencing CLI
    • 6.3Implications for future studies
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 19 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rllt.11.10aus
References (67)
References
Alexiadou, Artemis, and Elena Anagnostopoulou. 1998. Parametrizing AGR: word order, V-movement and EPP-checking. . Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 16 (3): 491–539. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Alonso-Ovalle, Luis, Susana Fernández-Solera, Lyn Frazier, and Charles Clifton. 2002. Null vs. overt pronouns and the topic-focus articulation in Spanish. . Italian Journal of Linguistics 14: 151–170.Google Scholar
Amaral, Luiz, and Tom Roeper. 2014. Multiple grammars and second language representation. Second Language Research 30(1): 3–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Argyri, Efrosyni, and Antonella Sorace. 2007. Crosslinguistic influence and language dominance in older bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 10 (1): 79–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Austin, Jennifer, Maria Blume, David Parkinson, Reyna Proman, Zelmira Núñez del Prado and Barbara Lust. 1996. Current challenges to the parameter-setting paradigm: The pro-drop parameter. In Proceedings of the Groningen Assembly on Language Acquisition 1995, edited by Charlotte Koster and Frank Wijnen. Groningen: Centre for Language and Cognition, 87–97.Google Scholar
Austin, Jennifer, Maria Blume, David Parkinson, Reyna Proman, Barbara Lust, B. and Zelmira Núñez del Prado. 1997. The acquisition of Spanish null and overt pronouns: Pragmatic and syntactic factors. In Papers on language acquisition: Cornell Working Papers in Linguistics, edited by Shamita Somashekar, Kyoko Yamakoshi, Maria Blume and Claire Foley 15, 160–177.Google Scholar
Bel, Aurora. 2003. The syntax of subjects in the acquisition of Spanish and Catalan. Probus 15 (1): 1–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berman, Ruth, and Dan Slobin. 1994. Relating events in narrative: a crosslinguistic developmental study. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Blom, Elma, and Sharon Unsworth, eds. 2010. Experimental methods in language acquisition research. Vol. 27. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bloom, Lois. 1970. Language development: Form and function in emerging Grammars. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bloom, Paul. 1990. Subjectless sentences in child language. Linguistic Inquiry 21: 491–504.Google Scholar
Camacho, José. 2013. Null subjects. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1981. Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
. 1995. The Minimalist Program. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam, and Howard Lasnik. 1977. Filters and control. Linguistic Inquiry 8: 425–504.Google Scholar
Contreras, Heles. 1991. On the position of subjects. In Perspectives on Phrase Structure: Heads and Licensing. Syntax and Semantics 25, edited by Susan Rothstein. San Diego: Academic Press, 63–79.Google Scholar
Cuza, Alejando. 2012. Cross-linguistic influence at the syntax proper: Interrogative subject-verb inversion in heritage Spanish. The International Journal of Bilingualism 17 (1): 71–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frascarelli, Maria. 2007. Subjects, topics and the interpretation of referential pro. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 25 (4): 691–734. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grinstead, John. 2004. Subjects and interface delay in child Spanish and Catalan. Language 80: 40–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guerriero, Sonia, Amy Cooper, Yuriko Oshima-Takane, and Yoko Kuriyama. 2001. A discourse-pragmatic explanation for argument realization and omission in English and Japanese children’s speech. In Proceedings of the 25th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, vol. 1, edited by Anna Do, Laura Domínguez, and Aimee Johansen. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 319–330.Google Scholar
Hacohen, Aviya and Jeanette Schaeffer. 2007. Subject realization in early Hebrew/English bilingual acquisition: The role of crosslinguistic influence. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 10 (3): 333–343. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hilles, Sharon. 1991. Access to Universal Grammar in second language acquisition. In Point Counterpoint: Universal Grammar in the second language, edited by Lynne Eubank. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 305–338. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hinzelin, Marc-Olivier. 2003. The acquisition of subjects in bilingual children. In (In)vulnerable Domains in Multilingualism, edited by Natascha Müller. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing, 107–137. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hughes, Mary, and Shanley Allen. 2006. A discourse-pragmatic analysis of subject omission in child English. In Proceedings of the 30th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, edited by David Bamman, Tatiana Magnitskaia, and Colleen Zaller. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 293–304.Google Scholar
Hulk, Aafke, and Natascha Müller. 2000. Bilingual first language acquisition at the interface between syntax and pragmatics. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 3 (3): 227–244. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hyams, Nina, and Kenneth Wexler. 1993. On the grammatical basis of null subjects in child language. Linguistic Inquiry 24 (3): 421–459.Google Scholar
Hyams, Nina. 1986. Language Acquisition and the Theory of Parameters. Dordrecht: Reidel. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1994. Null Subjects in Child Language and the Implications of Cross-Linguistic variation. In Syntactic theory and language acquisition: Cross-linguistic perspectives, edited by Barbara Lust, Gabriella Hermon, and Jacklin Kornfilt. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 289–299.Google Scholar
. 2011. Missing subjects in early child language. In Handbook of language acquisition theory in generative grammar, edited by Jill De Villiers and Tom Roeper. Amsterdam: Kluwer, 13–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Juan-Garau, María, and Carmen Pérez-Vidal. 2000. Subject realization in the development of bilingual child. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 3 (3): 173–192. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lakshmanan, Usha. 1994. Universal grammar in child L2 acquisition: Morphological uniformity and null subjects. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lasnik, Howard. 2001. A note on the EPP. Linguistic Inquiry 32 (2): 356–362. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liceras, Juana M., Raquel Fernández Fuertes, and Anahí Alba de la Fuente. 2012a. Overt subjects and copula omission in the Spanish and the English grammar of English-Spanish bilinguals: On the locus and directionality of interlinguistic influence. First Language 31 (1–2): 88–115. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liceras, Juana M., Raquel Fernández Fuertes, Anahí Alba de la Fuente Genevieve Boudreau, and Elisa Acevedo. 2012b. Interlinguistic influence in simultaneous bilingualism: Core syntax phenomena and lexical transparency. In Selected proceedings of the Romance Turn IV Workshop, edited by Sandrine Ferré, Philippe Prévost, Laurice Tuller, and Rasha Zebib. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 214–239.Google Scholar
López-Ornat, Susana, Sonia Mariscal, Almudena Fernández, and Pilar Gallo. 1994. La adquisición de la lengua española. Madrid: Siglo XXI de España.Google Scholar
Marchman, Virginia. 1989. Episodic structure and the linguistic encoding of events in narrative: A study of language acquisition and performance. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Mayer, Mercer. 1969. Frog, where are you? New York: Dial Press.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, Brian. 2000. The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk. Third Edition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Montrul, Silvina. 2004. Subject and object expression in Spanish heritage speakers: A case of morphosyntactic convergence. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 7 (2): 125–142. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2009. Incomplete acquisition of tense-Aspect and mood in Spanish heritage speakers. The International Journal of Bilingualism 13 (3): 239–269. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ordoñez, Francisco, and Esthela Treviño. 1999. Left dislocated subjects and the pro-drop Parameter: A case study of Spanish. Lingua 107(1–2): 39–68. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Orfitelli, Robyn, and Nina Hyams. 2012. Children’s grammar of null subjects: Evidence from comprehension. Linguistic Inquiry 43 (4): 563–590. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Otheguy, Ricardo, Ana Celia Zentella, and David Livert. 2007. Language and dialect contact in Spanish in New York: Toward the formation of a speech community. Language: 770–802.Google Scholar
Paradis, Johanne, and Samuel Navarro. 2003. Subject realization and crosslinguistic interference in the bilingual acquisition of Spanish and English: what is the role of the input? Journal of Child Language 30 (2): 371–393. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Park, Heejung, Kim Tsai, Lisa Liu, and Anna Lau. 2012. Transactional associations between supportive family climate and young children’s heritage language proficiency in immigrant families. International Journal of Behavioral Development 36 (3): 226–236. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Leroux, Ana Teresa, Alejandro Cuza, and Danielle Thomas. 2011. Clitic placement in Spanish–English bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14 (2): 221–232. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Picallo, M. Carme. 1998. On the Extended Projection Principle and null expletive subjects. Probus 10 (2): 219–242. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pierce, Amy. 1992. Language acquisition and syntactic theory: A comparative analysis of French and English child grammars. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pires, Acrisio, and Jason Rothman. 2009. Disentangling sources of incomplete acquisition: An explanation for competence divergence across heritage grammars. International Journal of Bilingualism 13 (2): 211–238. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Renner, Judith. 1988. Development of temporality in children’s narratives. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi. 1993. Some notes on linguistic theory and language development: The case of root infinitives. Language Acquisition 3 (4): 341–393. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005. On the grammatical basis of language development: A case study. In The Oxford handbook of comparative syntax, edited by Guglielmo Cinque and Richard Kayne. New York: Oxford University Press, 70–109.Google Scholar
Sano Tetsuya, and Nina Hyams. 2000. Agreement, finiteness, and the development of null arguments. In Acquisition of scrambling and cliticization, edited by Susan Powers and Cornelia Hamann. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 345–396.Google Scholar
Sebastián, Eugenia. 1989. “Tiempo y aspecto verbal en el lenguaje infantil.” Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Madrid: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.Google Scholar
Serratrice, Ludovica, Antonella Sorace, and Sandra Paoli. 2004. Crosslinguistic influence at the syntax-pragmatics interface: subjects and objects in Italian-English bilingual and monolingual acquisition. Bilingualism Language and Cognition 7(3): 183–205. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Serratrice, Ludovica. 2006. Referential cohesion in the narratives of bilingual English-Italian children and monolingual peers. Journal of Pragmatics 39 (6): 1058–1087. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shin, Naomi, and Ricardo Otheguy. 2009. Shifting sensitivity to continuity of reference: subject pronoun use in New York City. In Español en los Estados Unidos y otros contextos de contacto: Sociolingüística, ideología y pedagogía, edited by Manuel Lacorte and Jennifer Leeman. Madrid/Frankfurt: Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 111–136.Google Scholar
Slabakova, Roumyana, and Ivan Ivanov. 2011. A more careful look at the syntax–discourse interface. Lingua 121 (4): 637–651. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sorace, Antonella, and Ludovica Serratrice. 2009. Internal and external interfaces in bilingual language development: beyond structural overlap. International Journal of Bilingualism 13 (2): 195–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sorace, Antonella, Ludovica Serratrice, Francesca Filiaci, and Michela Baldo. 2009. Discourse conditions on subject pronoun realization: Testing the linguistic intuitions of older bilingual children. Lingua 119 (3): 460–477. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Suñer, Margarita. 2003. The lexical preverbal subject in a Romance Null Subject Language. In A Romance perspective on language knowledge and use: Selected papers from the 31st Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LRSL), Chicago, 19–22 April 2001, vol. 238, edited by Rafael Núñez-Cedeño, Luis López, and Richard Cameron. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing, 341–358. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Valian, Virginia. 1990. Null subjects: A problem for parameter-setting models of language acquisition. Cognition 35 (2): 105–122. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1991. Syntactic subjects in the early speech of American and Italian children. Cognition 40 (1–2): 21–81. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Villa-Garcia, Julio. 2012. Spanish subjects can be subjects: Acquisitional and empirical evidence. Iberia: an International Journal of Theoretical Linguistics 4 (2): 124–169.Google Scholar
Yang, Charles. 2004. Universal Grammar, statistics or both? Trends in cognitive sciences 8 (10): 451–456. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yip, Virginia, and Stephen Matthews. 2000. Syntactic transfer in a Cantonese-English bilingual child. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 3 (3): 193–208. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zubizarreta, María Luisa. 1999. Word order in Spanish and the nature of nominative case. In Beyond principles and parameters: Essays in memory of Osvaldo Jaeggli, edited by Kyle Johnson, and Ian Roberts. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 223–250. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Goldin, Michele
2020. An Exploratory Study of the Effect of Spanish Immersion Education on the Acquisition of Pronominal Subjects in Child Heritage Speakers. Languages 5:2 ► pp. 18 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.