This study will investigate how children acquire the option to drop the subject of a sentence, or null subjects (e.g., “Tickles me” instead of “He tickles me”). In languages that do not permit null subjects, children produce sentences with null subjects from 1 to 3 years of age. This non-adultlike production has been explained by two main accounts: first, the null subject sentences may accurately reflect the children’s linguistic knowledge, that is, a competence account. Alternatively, they may result from immature processing resources, therefore underestimating children’s competence, that is, a performance account. We will test the predictions of these accounts by using a central fixation preference procedure and elicited imitation to measure children’s comprehension and production, respectively, in monolingual 19- to 28-month-olds acquiring English (a non-null subject language) and Italian (a null subject language). The results will shed light on acquisition across languages, and the features that provide evidence to a learner.

Gerard, J., Singh, M., Bencini, G., Valian, V. (2025). Null subject comprehension and production revisited: a look at English and Italian. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE, 1, 1-26 [10.1017/S0305000924000588].

Null subject comprehension and production revisited: a look at English and Italian

Bencini, Giulia;
2025

Abstract

This study will investigate how children acquire the option to drop the subject of a sentence, or null subjects (e.g., “Tickles me” instead of “He tickles me”). In languages that do not permit null subjects, children produce sentences with null subjects from 1 to 3 years of age. This non-adultlike production has been explained by two main accounts: first, the null subject sentences may accurately reflect the children’s linguistic knowledge, that is, a competence account. Alternatively, they may result from immature processing resources, therefore underestimating children’s competence, that is, a performance account. We will test the predictions of these accounts by using a central fixation preference procedure and elicited imitation to measure children’s comprehension and production, respectively, in monolingual 19- to 28-month-olds acquiring English (a non-null subject language) and Italian (a null subject language). The results will shed light on acquisition across languages, and the features that provide evidence to a learner.
2025
Gerard, J., Singh, M., Bencini, G., Valian, V. (2025). Null subject comprehension and production revisited: a look at English and Italian. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE, 1, 1-26 [10.1017/S0305000924000588].
Gerard, Juliana; Singh, Muskaan; Bencini, Giulia; Valian, Virginia
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/1001895
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