After the Null Subject Parameter: Acquisition of the Null-Overt Contrast in Spanish

• Published in: Language learning and development Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 171 - 200
• Main Authors: Forsythe, Hannah, Greeson, Daniel, Schmitt, Cristina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Psychology Press 03.04.2022; Routledge
• Subjects: Computational Linguistics; Foreign Countries; Form Classes (Languages); Grammar; Language Acquisition; Language Variation; Low Income Groups; Mothers; Parent Child Relationship; Preferences; Preschool Children; Spanish; Mexico (Mexico City)
• ISSN: 1547-5441; 1547-3341
• DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2021.1941967

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.