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Article published In: Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 11:2 (2021) ► pp.192–221

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Cross-linguistic influence in the development of null arguments in early successive bilingual acquisition

 | Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
Published online: 5 July 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.18016.sop
Abstract
The main goal of this study is to investigate the nature of null elements used in German by early successive bilingual Polish-German children. The language pair offers the opportunity to investigate the possibility of cross-linguistic influence in the area of null arguments between two languages which differ significantly in the nature of the null arguments allowed in the grammars. Longitudinal data from four bilingual children who were first exposed to L2 German between the ages of 2;6 and 4;7 years is used in the investigation. The results show that early successive bilinguals have no underlying grammatical representation involving pro in their L2. Neither are the null elements exclusively a result of topic drop, as they are in German, or of discourse drop, as they are in adult Polish grammar. The findings suggest that early bilinguals transfer an L1 strategy of linking null elements to general pragmatic contexts.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Null arguments in adult language
    • 2.1Null arguments in German and Polish
    • 2.2On the nature of null arguments
  • 3.Null arguments in L1 acquisition: German and Polish
    • 3.1Findings in L1 German
    • 3.2Findings in L1 Polish
    • 3.3Theoretical accounts of the nature of null arguments in child language
  • 4.Previous studies on cross-linguistic influence in early successive bilingual acquisition
  • 5.The study
    • 5.1Research questions and hypotheses
    • 5.2Participants
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Null subjects
    • 6.2Null objects
  • 7.Discussion
    • 7.1Mechanisms of argument drop and cross-linguistic influence
    • 7.2Age effect and cross-linguistic influence
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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