Linguistics 2244A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Peer Pressure, Field Dependence, Null-Subject Language
4 Mar 2018
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What is the main property of null subject languages: you can drop the subject noun phrase, e. g. She eats cake : you can just say eats cake . Research has shown that null subjects can be acquired very quickly. What takes much longer: when you are allowed to drop, the rules on the pragmatics on when tis appropriate to drop the subject. What two procedures apply to contrastive analysis and to current generative (ug) approaches to second language acquisition: contrasts language, prediction. White (1991) looked at word order in the second language of french l1 speakers. Particularly, she looked at the placement of adverbs and question formation. Word elements that cannot be divided further: example: the possessive s; the plural s; past tense ed; words like house, table, dog; etc. Contexts in which the omission of an element leads to ungrammaticality.
