Null anaphora in Spanish second language acquisition: probabilistic versus generative approaches

Abstract

The acquisition of Spanish null pronouns is an optimal domain for comparing the predictions of generativist vs. probabilistic approaches to language acquisition. This paper presents two studies on the acquisition of null subjects by English adult learners of Spanish as a second language. The first investigates a low frequency construction in which the antecedent of the pronoun is a quantifier, and the distribution is regulated by a principle of UG. The second looks at a high frequency context,where the distribution of the null pronoun depends on whether it is interpreted as focus or as discourse topic. The data indicate early mastery, and no development in the case of the low frequency quantifier construction, and gradual acquisition for the distribution of pronouns in discourse. These findings lend support to grammatical as opposed to probabilistic approaches to language learning.

Silence is difficult: On missing elements in bilingual grammars

“…Other factors that may affect bilinguals' mastery of constraints on omissions include dominant language transfer (Serratrice et al 2004;Sorace 2004;Tsimpli et al 2004), non-target-like mastery of pragmatic rules (Pérez-Leroux and Glass 1999;Rothman 2009, Ivanova-Sullivan 2014, and (for HL speakers) idiosyncratic properties of the baseline input grammar (Laleko 2010;Pires and Rothman 2009). While further studies are necessary to evaluate each of these factors experimentally, our data suggest some preliminary considerations.…”

Second language acquisition at the interfaces

“…1 Another aspect of L2 null and overt subject use that has been investigated in the past involves a comparison of the discourse-related properties of topic and focus. Though not using the term interfaces, Pérez-Leroux and Glass (1997Glass ( , 1999 do make explicit comparisons between the acquisition of purely syntactic or semantic constraints on overt pronouns versus choices affected by which NP is the topic or focus in the sentence. Using elicited production tasks (translation and question answering), they found that L2 learners of Spanish at all levels of proficiency appropriately used null pronouns instead of overt pronouns in bound variable contexts, which are governed by a universal constraint against overt pronouns (Montalbetti, 1984).…”

The Generative Approach to Sla and Its Place in Modern Second Language Studies

“…Starting in the 1990s, a line of research in GenSLA concentrated on testing whether L2 learners did indeed acquire properties of the L2 incidentally and, specifically, if L2 learners acquire PoS properties. Early work such as that by Kanno (1997), Pérez-Leroux and Glass (1999), Dekydtspotter, Sprouse, and Anderson (1997), and Dekydtspotter, Sprouse, and Thyre (2000), among many others since, have showed that L2 grammars, despite significant differences from L1 grammars, instantiate universal linguistic properties that cannot be linked to transfer or accounted for by learning in the truest sense of the word (for an extended example, see the next section). Such evidence seriously questions any claims for a fundamental difference between L1 and L2 acquisition.…”