The role of grammatical role and thematic role predictability in reference form production in Mandarin Chinese

Abstract

Evidence suggests that English speakers use pronouns when referring to the grammatical subject and predictable thematic role. We tested how grammatical role and thematic role predictability affect different types of referential forms, namely, overt pronouns and null pronouns in Mandarin Chinese. We found that both overt and null pronouns were sensitive to grammatical role. However, we did not find any evidence that overt and null pronouns were sensitive to thematic role predictability. Although null pronouns were influenced by grammatical role, the rate of null pronouns for subject reference was very low compared to that of overt pronouns. Given the frequent occurrence of null pronouns in Mandarin, our results suggest that the use of null pronouns may not be explained by a simple grammatical role mechanism.

Choice of nominative and topic markers in Korean discourse

“…However, there was no significant effect of connective or an interaction between grammatical role and connective indicative of the predictability effect. These findings suggest that the use of zero pronouns was influenced by grammatical role, but not by predictability, which is consistent with the findings of H. Hwang et al (under revision).…”

“…Note that non-subject referents were more predictable than subject referents for N2-biased IC verbs, but participants used zero pronouns more for subject referents. Consistent with the results of Experiment 1, these findings suggest that zero pronoun use is sensitive to the grammatical role of the referent, but not to the predictability of the referent (see also H. Hwang et al, under revision).…”

“…In line with the findings in English, recent evidence suggests that zero pronouns in languages such as Korean and Mandarin are also primarily used to refer to subject referents (e.g., H. Hwang, in press; H. Hwang et al, under revision).…”

“…For example, Fukumura and van Gompel (2010) found that English speakers did not use more pronouns for the stimulus referent than the experiencer referent in (2). Using both transfer and implicit causality (IC) verbs, H. Hwang et al (under revision) found that predictability did not have a significant effect on overt and zero pronouns in Mandarin.…”

The influence of discourse continuity on referential form choice.

“…They assume that different referential forms can be described by a single representation of salience: More reduced forms such as pronouns tend to be used for a highly salient or accessible entity, whereas more explicit forms such as names tend to be used for a less salient or accessible entity. The factors that have been claimed to influence the salience of an entity (and thereby the likelihood of that entity being subsequently referred to with a reduced form) include recency of mention (e.g., Arnold, 1998; Arnold et al, 2009; Givón, 1983) and grammatical position (e.g., Arnold, 1998; Brennan et al, 1987; Fukumura & van Gompel, 2010; Gordon et al, 1993; Hwang, 2018, 2020; Hwang et al, in press; Kehler et al, 2008; Rohde & Kehler, 2014; Stevenson et al, 1994), among others. Under saliency hierarchy models, interclausal connection may affect referential form production by influencing the accessibility of entities.…”