Children's learning of language-universal and language-specific principles of argument representation was the topic under investigation in the three studies comprising this thesis. Another objective was to investigate whether a discourse-pragmatic approach could be employed to explain children's patterns of argument omission and production, developmentally and crosslinguistically. To answer these questions, referential choice in the spontaneous language of monolingual English-speaking and monolingual Japanese-speaking children and their mothers was developmentally investigated whereby a sentence argument's morphological form (null, pronominal, lexical), referential status (given, new), and syntactic location (transitive subject, transitive object, intransitive subject) were systematically analysed. The first and second studies revealed that neither the English-speaking nor the Japanese-speaking children showed sensitivity to the referential distinction between given and new information early on in development (at 21 months of age). The English-speaking children mastered English-specific referential conventions between MLU 2.00 and 3.99 (between 24 and 32 months) and employed non-linguistic pragmatic correlates to supplement unconventional argument use from as early as MLU 1.00 (between 21 and 23 months). By contrast, the Japanese-speaking children showed unconventional referential choices as late as MLU 4.00 (between 33 and 36 months), as well as inconsistent use of non-linguistic pragmatic correlates. The third study revealed that, although language-specific differences were observed, neither group of children violated any of the four Preferred Argument Structure (PAS) constraints: The children avoided using more than one new or lexical argument per transitive clause and avoided casting new or lexical arguments as transitive subjects. However, evidence of sensitivity to PAS strategies from early on in development was inconclusive because the children omitted most sentence arguments at the beginning of speech production. Finally, all three studies revealed that children's referential choices that were inconsistent with expected discourse-pragmatic principles reflected similar patterns observed in parental input. Altogether, this set of studies led to the following general conclusions regarding the learning of argument representation and distribution in syntax: (1) a discourse-pragmatic approach can explain language-universal features of argument omission and production in child language and (2) language-specific strategies are learned via parental input.

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by Gu Gang. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-142). / Abstract also in Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.v / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- Grammaticality and Acceptability --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- The X-bar Theory --- p.9 / Chapter 2.3 --- C-command --- p.10 / Chapter 2.4 --- Barrier --- p.11 / Chapter 2.5 --- Government --- p.12 / Chapter 2.6 --- The Binding Theory --- p.13 / Chapter 2.7 --- Indexation --- p.16 / Chapter 2.7.1 --- Lexical Words --- p.17 / Chapter 2.7.2 --- Trace --- p.19 / Chapter 2.7.2.1 --- The ECP --- p.21 / Chapter 2.7.2.2 --- The Overt Trace --- p.23 / Chapter 2.7.3 --- PRO --- p.25 / Chapter 2.7.4 --- pro --- p.28 / Chapter 2.7.5 --- Summary --- p.29 / Chapter 2.8 --- The General Control --- p.30 / Chapter 2.9 --- Summary --- p.33 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- THE CLASSIFICATION OF TOPIC STRUCTURES --- p.35 / Chapter 3.1 --- The Definition --- p.35 / Chapter 3.2 --- Topicalized Topics and Left-Dislocalized Topics --- p.40 / Chapter 3.3 --- Pure Topics and Contrastive Topics --- p.42 / Chapter 3.4 --- The Topic PP --- p.47 / Chapter 3.5 --- Covert Passive Structures --- p.50 / Chapter 3.6 --- Summary --- p.54 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- SOME APPROACHES ON THE GENERATION OF THE TOPIC STRUCTURE --- p.56 / Chapter 4.1 --- Ross (1967) --- p.56 / Chapter 4.2 --- Chomsky (1977) --- p.59 / Chapter 4.3 --- Brunson (1992) --- p.60 / Chapter 4.4 --- "Huang (1984, 1987，1989, 1991)" --- p.61 / Chapter 4.5 --- "Xu (1985,1986, 1994)" --- p.64 / Chapter 4.6 --- Summary --- p.65 / Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- The BASE-GENERATION APPROACH --- p.67 / Chapter 5.1 --- The Identification of the Gap in the Comment --- p.67 / Chapter 5.2 --- Subjacency Effect or Control Failure? --- p.70 / Chapter 5.3 --- Free Empty Categories --- p.76 / Chapter 5.4 --- The Base-Generated Variable --- p.82 / Chapter 5.5 --- Summary --- p.84 / Chapter CHAPTER 6 --- THE TOPIC PP --- p.85 / Chapter 6.1 --- Disconstituents --- p.85 / Chapter 6.2 --- The Order Among PPs --- p.87 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- English --- p.87 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- Chinese --- p.88 / Chapter 6.2.2.1 --- Temporal Adjuncts --- p.88 / Chapter 6.2.2.2 --- Locative Adjuncts --- p.94 / Chapter 6.2.2.3 --- Relative Position of the Parallel Adjuncts --- p.96 / Chapter 6.3 --- Topic PPs and Disconstituents --- p.98 / Chapter 6.3.1 --- Topic PPs and V-bar Disconstituents --- p.98 / Chapter 6.3.2 --- Topic PPs and Subject --- p.102 / Chapter 6.3.3 --- AS for Topics and Disconstituents --- p.105 / Chapter 6.4 --- Summary --- p.107 / Chapter CHAPTER 7 --- THE RESUMPTIVE PRONOUN IN THE COMMENT --- p.109 / Chapter 7.1 --- A Controversy --- p.109 / Chapter 7.2 --- Traces and Resumptive Pronouns --- p.111 / Chapter 7.3 --- The Binding Constraint --- p.115 / Chapter 7.4 --- The Complex NP --- p.117 / Chapter 7.5 --- Why Overt? --- p.119 / Chapter 7.6 --- Summary --- p.129 / Chapter CHAPTER 8 --- CONCLUSIONS --- p.130 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.135

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This thesis investigates the syntax-discourse interface in adult, end state second language (L2) acquisition. Specifically, it examines topic constructions in Spanish and English, namely Clitic Left Dislocation (CLLD) and Contrastive Left Dislocation (CLD), which exhibit both syntactic and discourse level properties. In both cases, topics occur at the left periphery of clauses and reintroduce a subset of a known set previously mentioned in discourse. Sensitivity to specificity is available in Spanish but not in English. The interpretation of the topicalized element as either generic or specific depends on the presence or absence of the clitic. Data from a bidirectional study are reported in order to investigate the issue of L1 transfer as well as the question of whether acquiring a new property is easier than losing a property. / Three current theories of acquisition are examined, namely, the Full Transfer/Full Access model (FT/FA), Failed Functional Features Hypothesis/Representational Deficit Hypothesis (FFFH/RDH), and Optionality theory. The theories are considered with respect to their predictions about L2 ultimate attainment and the syntax-discourse interface. / Participants were 15 end state speakers of L2 Spanish/L1 English and 15 end state speakers of L2 English/L1 Spanish were tested. Three tasks were administered for each study (Sentence Completion Task, oral Sentence Selection Task, and oral Acceptability Task) targeting topic constructions and associated interpretive properties in the respective target languages. Results for the L2 Spanish study indicate that while the syntactic properties of CLLD were acquired, the interpretive properties of specificity were fossilized (i.e. clitic was overgeneralized). Results for the L2 English study also showed that the syntactic properties were acquired but the specificity distinction of the L1 was transferred into the L2. Results demonstrate that problems with specificity occur in both directions as predicted by the theory of Optionality. In both cases, the optionality found at the interpretive level was L1-based. Namely, non-target L1 forms co-existed with the L2 forms.

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This study discusses topic and focus constructions in spoken Korean within the framework of information structure. Information structure is a part of grammar that deals with the relation between linguistic forms and the mental states of speakers and hearers. Since the different formal realizations of topic and focus constructions in Korean are due to differences in speakers' assumptions about the mental states of hearers, research on Korean topic and focus constructions falls under the proper domain of information structure. Five different topic constructions in Korean are reviewed and their discourse contexts are analyzed; zero pronouns, bare NPs, and right-dislocated NPs are generally used for discourse-active topic referents, and the maliya-construction and nun-marked NPs are generally used for topic referents that are not discourse-active. Sometimes, active topic referents are also marked with --nun when the topic referents have more salient topics already established in the discourse or speakers are considering potential alternatives to the active topic referents. Topics are divided into ratified and ungratified topics according to whether their status as topics is assumed to be taken for granted by hearers. Among the five topic constructions in Korean, zero pronouns, bare NPs and right-dislocated NPs express ratified topics, while the maliya-construction and nunmarked topics express unratified topics. The marker --ka, which has been long regarded as a subject indicator, is reanalyzed, and it is suggested that --ka marks not only the subject but also argument focus and sentence focus. Accessible or active referents can sometimes be marked with --ka, constituting sentence-focus constructions. In those constructions, the propositional content of the sentences expresses some unexpected or surprising event. Also, frequent occurrences of the maker --ka in presupposed subordinate clauses are examined, and it is suggested that --ka can be used as a mere subject indicator, losing its function of indicating focus in presupposed clauses with topic-comment construals, in which there is no actual focus. / text

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

This thesis is concerned with the syntactic properties of cleft constructions in Japanese within the Principles and Parameters framework with some consideration of the Minimalist Program. The constructions in question are divided syntactically into two sub-parts, a focus element and a presuppositional clause. This thesis claims that the focused element's position is not derived via a process of movement such as scrambling, but is instead base-generated in a predicate position occupied by a single constituent. Presuppositional clauses of clefts are argued to involve movement of a null operator, which is analyzed on a par with topicalization. This is supported by various syntactic parallelisms between cleft and topic constructions in this language. While the presuppositional clause is marked by a nominalizer, it is shown that it does not project a nominal category; in this sense, cleft constructions are analogous to head-internal relative clauses. Furthermore, one of the most interesting properties of the cleft construction, the syntactic phenomenon of 'connectivity', is closely examined. I propose that long-distance cleft constructions in Japanese have peculiar structures: a null operator originates adjoined to the highest complement clause, and its thematic position is occupied by pro. This analysis is supported by empirical facts which involve binding relations, weak crossover effects, interactions with another A'-dependency, and clefting adjunct PPs. It is shown that these types of resumptive A '-dependencies are observed across languages as well as in different constructions within the Japanese language. Finally, the discussion is extended to so-called sluicing in Japanese. This thesis observes similar syntactic behavior in sluicing and clefts, which leads to the argument that sluicing sentences are derived from cleft constructions.