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In:Specific Language Impairment: Current trends in research
Edited by Stavroula Stavrakaki
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 58] 2015
► pp. 175–190

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Null Subjects in Monolingual and Bilingual, Typical and Atypical Development

an exploratory study

 | Universida de Nova de Lisboa
 | Universida de Nova de Lisboa
Published online: 11 August 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.58.08cos
We present an exploratory test on the production of null subjects by 13 monolinguals acquiring Capeverdean, 6 bilingual speakers of Capeverdean and European Portuguese with typical language development and 7 bilingual speakers with SLI features. Capeverdean does not allow null referential subjects in matrix clauses. European Portuguese, on the other hand, is a prototypical pro-drop language. The results from an elicited production task revealed that the production of null subjects does not appear to constitute a distinctive feature for bilingual children with language impairment. As for the contrast between the early abandon of subject drop by Capeverdean monolinguals and the maintenance of null subjects among the bilinguals in both languages, the latter confirms that this is an area of interference.
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