La présente thèse porte sur l’utilisation et l’interprétation des sujets nuls et pronominaux en portugais brésilien. Son objectif est de comprendre les facteurs sémantiques et discursifs qui peuvent être pertinents pour le choix entre ces expressions anaphoriques et la façon dont ce choix s’articule avec la théorie générale de la résolution de l’anaphore. Le point de départ a été la recherche sur les sujets nuls et réalisés sous la perspective de la grammaire générative, en particulier la théorie paramétrique. Cette thèse démontre que l’analyse proposée dans cette perspective ne peut rendre compte des données observées. Par exemple, la généralisation sur la « pauvreté » de la morphologie verbale directement liée à l’absence, ou à la fréquence réduite, de sujets nuls est contestée avec les données expérimentales ainsi qu’avec la distribution de la fréquence relative des sujets nuls au sein des personnes discursives dans le corpus. Une explication alternative présentée dans la littérature, à savoir l’importance des caractéristiques sémantiques des antécédents – l’Animacité et le Specificité – semble mieux expliquer la distribution constatée. Cette explication n’est cependant pas suffisante pour comprendre le choix des sujets anaphoriques en brésilien, puisque le nombre relatif de sujets nuls animés et spécifiques est relativement plus élevé que dans les langues à expression obligatoire des sujets. Par conséquent, cette thèse soutient que les facteurs discursifs semblent jouer un rôle crucial dans l’utilisation des sujets nuls et réalisés en brésilien. Les principaux facteurs identifiés ici sont le statut évident de l’antécédent et le caractère contrastif de l’information d’arrière-plan et l’information nouvelle. Le premier est un facteur standard dans la littérature sur la résolution de l’anaphore (exprimé par différents termes comme l’accessibilité, la familiarité, etc.), qui permet l’hypothèse d’une relation inverse entre le degré de saillance de l’antécédent et degré explicitation nécessaire dans l’expression anaphorique : plus l’antécédent est saillant, moins l’anaphore doit être explicite. Le second facteur, le contraste, constitue la principale contribution nouvelle de cette thèse : Comme pour d’autres niveaux d’analyse linguistique et d’autres phénomènes dans le langage, le choix de l’expression anaphorique semble être orienté vers l’efficacité. Plus précisément, lorsque l’information d’arrière-plan (background) et l’information assertée (focalisée) dans un énoncé contrastent, il est plus probable qu’un sujet nul soit utilisé. Les caractéristiques d’une grammaire permettant de traiter ces diverses caractéristiques est esquissée : on propose une grammaire à plusieurs niveaux dont les contraintes sémantiques et discursives agissent en parallèle à travers un principe de correspondance probabiliste. Il est ainsi démontré que les sujets nuls sont probables dans certains contextes de co-référence discursifs, puisque dans ces contextes, leurs antécédents sont plus évidents et contrastent plus avec l’information d’arrière-plan. Une contre-preuve apparente à la proposition esquissée ici est analysée : l’interprétation générique des sujets nuls. Cependant, on montre que les mêmes contraintes sémantiques appliquées à d’autres constructions génériques dans plusieurs langues peuvent produire des sujets nuls génériques en brésilien, étant donné l’échec de la mise en arrière-plan prédite par l’approche proposée ici. Enfin, les résultats de trois expériences de mouvements oculaires en lecture, qui étudient l’utilisation et l’interprétation des sujets nuls et pronominaux, sont présentés. Ces résultats corroborent de façon convaincante l’hypothèse selon laquelle les sujets nuls et réalisés ainsi que leur interprétation peuvent être expliqués par la théorie proposée ici, qui les traite en termes de contraintes d’interprétation plutôt qu’en termes de légitimation syntaxique. / The present dissertation is concerned with the use and interpretation of null and pronominal subjects in Brazilian Portuguese. This investigation examines these phenomena in an attempt to disentangle the semantic and discursive factors that can be relevant for choice between these anaphoric expressions in Brazilian Portuguese and the way in which this choice is articulated with the general theory of anaphora resolution. The starting point of this dissertation was the research looking into null and overt subjects from the perspective of Generative Grammar, specially the Parametric Theory. Throughout the present work, however, the analyses proposed in this perspective were shown not to account for the data at stake. The generalization that poor verbal morphology is directly related to the absence or reduced frequency of null subjects, for example, is challenged through experimental data and an investigation of the relative frequency of null subjects across discourse persons in corpora. An alternative explanation presented in the previous literature, namely the importance of the antecedents’ features of Animacy and Specificity, seems to better account for the attested distribution. However, this explanation is not sufficient for understanding the choice between null and overt subjects in Brazilian Portuguese, since the number of animate and specific null subjects is still relatively higher than in languages with obligatory expression of subjects. Therefore, it is argued that discourse factors seem to play a crucial role in the use of null and overt subjects in Brazilian Portuguese. The main factors identified here are Obviousness and Contrast. The first is a standard feature in the literature about anaphora resolution (expressed by a variety of terms, such as Salience, Familiarity, Accessibility, etc.), which is part of the reverse mapping hypothesis according to which the more obvious the subject is, the less explicit the co-referential form is allowed to be. The second factor, Contrast, is the main finding of the present dissertation: as is the case for other levels of linguistic analyses and other phenomena in language, the choice of anaphoric expression in Brazilian Portuguese seems to be driven by efficiency. In the present case, this means that, when the backgrounded information and the asserted (focused) in- formation in an utterance contrast the most, it is more likely that a null subject will be used. The design of a grammar that deals with these multiple features is sketched, specifically, a multi-layered scalar probabilistic grammar is proposed, whose semantic and discourse constraints act in parallel through a probabilistic mapping. It is, thus, shown that null subjects are likely in discursive co- reference, since in these contexts their antecedents are more obvious and the focused information contrasts the most with the background. An apparent counter-example to the proposal sketched here is analyzed: the generic interpretation of null subjects. However, it is shown that the same semantic constraints cross-linguistically applied to other generic constructions can produce generic null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese, given the failure to be grounded predicted by the approach proposed here. Finally, on-line evidence for the analysis of the use and interpretation of null and pronominal subjects is provided. The results found in three eye-tracking while reading experiments provide striking evidence in favor of the proposal put forward here, according to which null and overt subjects and their interpretation can be accounted for in terms of constraints on interpretation rather than licensing.

Na presente pesquisa estudamos o comportamento do sujeito pronominal no português uruguaio (PU) falado na região de fronteira entre Brasil e Uruguai (Santana do Livramento-Rivera). Associando alguns pressupostos da Teoria de Princípios e Parâmetros (CHOMSKY, 1981), mais especificamente o Parâmetro do Sujeito Nulo (pro-drop), e da Sociolinguística Variacionista (WEINREICH, LABOV e HERZOG, 1968), analisamos uma amostra de língua oral composta de falas de 37 informantes, investigando as seguintes questões: (1) no português uruguaio teríamos uma mudança linguística em curso no que se refere ao Parâmetro do Sujeito Nulo, de modo que ele venha a se tornar um sujeito pronominal pleno?; (2) quais são os fatores linguísticos e sociais condicionantes dessa produção e em que direção vai essa tendência, português brasileiro (PB) ou espanhol (E)? A análise dos fatores sociais e linguísticos selecionados permitiu observar que o PU também passa por um processo de mudança paramétrica, ainda que mais lenta, devido ao fato de estar submetido à pressão simultânea de duas línguas, e se apresenta como uma língua em que, em alguns contextos, a realização do sujeito pronominal é plena e, em outros, ainda conserva as características das línguas pro-drop. Confirma-se, ainda, que essa disputa não está terminada, embora haja indícios nos dados da geração mais nova de que as regras do espanhol vêm ganhando alguma força, talvez pela pressão da escola e dos meios de comunicação. Tudo indica, então, que a base do PU é o PB, porém algumas características do E estão presentes nesse aspecto da gramática. A análise realizada confirma a maior parte das hipóteses iniciais e dá indícios de que o PU e o PB poderiam configurar-se como duas línguas distintas, da mesma forma que o PB e o PE, como aponta Galves (1998), isto é, tudo parece indicar que, mesmo quando os enunciados superficialmente se parecem, a língua interna (Língua-I) seria diferente e os enunciados dos falantes teriam estatutos diferentes, algo que, no entanto, será necessário demonstrar com um outro modelo de coleta de dados, de natureza mais introspectiva. / In this research we study the behavior of the pronominal subject in the Uruguayan Portuguese language (PU) spoken in the border region between Brazil and Uruguay (Santana do Livramento-Rivera). Associating some assumptions from the Theory of Principles and Parameters (CHOMSKY, 1981), specifically the Null Subject Parameter (pro-drop), and from the Variationist Sociolinguistics (WEINREICH, LABOV and HERZOG, 1968), we analyze a sample of spoken language consisting of 37 informants, in order to investigate the following questions: (1) would we have in the Uruguayan Portuguese language a language change in progress with regard to the Null Subject Parameter, so that it will become a full pronominal subject? (2) what are the linguistic factors and social conditions of production and in which direction will this trend, Brazilian Portuguese (BP) or Spanish (E)? The analysis of social factors and selected language programs suggests that the PU is also undergoing a process of parametric change, albeit slower, due to the fact of being subjected to the pressure of two languages simultaneously, and is presented as a language that, in some contexts, the performance of the pronominal subject is full, and in others it still retains the characteristics of pro-drop languages. It is also confirmed that this dispute is not over, although there are indications in the data of the younger generation that the rules of Spanish are gaining some strength, maybe due to the pressure of school and the media. The analysis confirms most of our initial hypothesis and provides evidence that the PU and CP could be framed as two distinct languages, in the same way as the PB and PE, as appointed by GALVES (1998), that is, everything seems to indicate that, even when the statements superficially resemble, the internal language (Language I) would be different and the production of the speakers would have different statutes, something which, however, would just be demonstrated by means of another more introspective model of data collection.

Na presente pesquisa estudamos o comportamento do sujeito pronominal no português uruguaio (PU) falado na região de fronteira entre Brasil e Uruguai (Santana do Livramento-Rivera). Associando alguns pressupostos da Teoria de Princípios e Parâmetros (CHOMSKY, 1981), mais especificamente o Parâmetro do Sujeito Nulo (pro-drop), e da Sociolinguística Variacionista (WEINREICH, LABOV e HERZOG, 1968), analisamos uma amostra de língua oral composta de falas de 37 informantes, investigando as seguintes questões: (1) no português uruguaio teríamos uma mudança linguística em curso no que se refere ao Parâmetro do Sujeito Nulo, de modo que ele venha a se tornar um sujeito pronominal pleno?; (2) quais são os fatores linguísticos e sociais condicionantes dessa produção e em que direção vai essa tendência, português brasileiro (PB) ou espanhol (E)? A análise dos fatores sociais e linguísticos selecionados permitiu observar que o PU também passa por um processo de mudança paramétrica, ainda que mais lenta, devido ao fato de estar submetido à pressão simultânea de duas línguas, e se apresenta como uma língua em que, em alguns contextos, a realização do sujeito pronominal é plena e, em outros, ainda conserva as características das línguas pro-drop. Confirma-se, ainda, que essa disputa não está terminada, embora haja indícios nos dados da geração mais nova de que as regras do espanhol vêm ganhando alguma força, talvez pela pressão da escola e dos meios de comunicação. Tudo indica, então, que a base do PU é o PB, porém algumas características do E estão presentes nesse aspecto da gramática. A análise realizada confirma a maior parte das hipóteses iniciais e dá indícios de que o PU e o PB poderiam configurar-se como duas línguas distintas, da mesma forma que o PB e o PE, como aponta Galves (1998), isto é, tudo parece indicar que, mesmo quando os enunciados superficialmente se parecem, a língua interna (Língua-I) seria diferente e os enunciados dos falantes teriam estatutos diferentes, algo que, no entanto, será necessário demonstrar com um outro modelo de coleta de dados, de natureza mais introspectiva. / In this research we study the behavior of the pronominal subject in the Uruguayan Portuguese language (PU) spoken in the border region between Brazil and Uruguay (Santana do Livramento-Rivera). Associating some assumptions from the Theory of Principles and Parameters (CHOMSKY, 1981), specifically the Null Subject Parameter (pro-drop), and from the Variationist Sociolinguistics (WEINREICH, LABOV and HERZOG, 1968), we analyze a sample of spoken language consisting of 37 informants, in order to investigate the following questions: (1) would we have in the Uruguayan Portuguese language a language change in progress with regard to the Null Subject Parameter, so that it will become a full pronominal subject? (2) what are the linguistic factors and social conditions of production and in which direction will this trend, Brazilian Portuguese (BP) or Spanish (E)? The analysis of social factors and selected language programs suggests that the PU is also undergoing a process of parametric change, albeit slower, due to the fact of being subjected to the pressure of two languages simultaneously, and is presented as a language that, in some contexts, the performance of the pronominal subject is full, and in others it still retains the characteristics of pro-drop languages. It is also confirmed that this dispute is not over, although there are indications in the data of the younger generation that the rules of Spanish are gaining some strength, maybe due to the pressure of school and the media. The analysis confirms most of our initial hypothesis and provides evidence that the PU and CP could be framed as two distinct languages, in the same way as the PB and PE, as appointed by GALVES (1998), that is, everything seems to indicate that, even when the statements superficially resemble, the internal language (Language I) would be different and the production of the speakers would have different statutes, something which, however, would just be demonstrated by means of another more introspective model of data collection.

The aim of this paper is to study whether there is a correlation between how subject pronouns are introduced in Spanish teaching and the pupils' difficulties regarding both their use and the understanding of verb conjugation. What is being investigated is: a) to what extent and in what contexts subject pronouns appear in Spanish textbooks, and b) how secondary education teachers of Spanish work with subject pronouns in the classroom. My conclusion is that the subject pronouns are under-represented in Spanish textbooks, probably due to the interpretation of the null subject parameter and Spanish as a pro-drop language. As far as the work with subject pronouns in the classroom is concerned, a more in-depth analysis needs to be carried out in order to be able to demonstrate a reliable correlation between the teaching method and the students' results. / Syftet med detta arbete är att studera om det finns ett samband mellan hur subjektspronomina introduceras i spanskaundervisningen och elevernas svårigheter kring både användandet av dessa och förståelsen för verbböjning. Det som undersöks är: a) i vilken utsträckning och i vilka sammanhang förekommer subjektspronomina i läromedel för undervisning i spanska, och b) hur högstadielärare i spanska arbetar med subjektspronomina i klassrummet. Min slutsats är att subjektspronomina finns underrepresenterade i läroböcker i spanska, förmodligen på grund av den tolkning som görs av nollsubjektsparametern och spanska som pro-drop språk. Vad gäller arbetet med subjektspronomina i klassrummet behöver en mer fördjupad analys genomföras för att det ska kunna påvisas ett tillförlitligt samband mellan undervisningsmetod och elevernas resultat.

The aim of this study is to answer to questions of how the null subject parameter properties in Turkish are reorganized by Turkish learners of English and whether there is a relationship between the null subject parameter properties in acquiring them. Firstly, a pilot study was conducted to detect the possible inadequacy in data collecting methods. Following the pilot study, a main study was conducted in order to answer the research questions.Thirty-four intermediate and thirty-four upper-intermediate students from METU English Preparation Department participated in the study. Along with these two proficiency groups, a control group of native speakers also contributed to the study whose answers were taken as criteria in evaluating students answers. Two types of tests were used: a 30item grammaticality judgment test and a 17item dialogue task. the test results were analyzed using a statistical program. In the end, it was found that students acquire the properties independently and as their proficiency levels increase, the acquisition of those properties also increases. However, it was also seen that students were not able to acquire these properties which was thought to be a result of parametric difference between Turkish and English. In order to overcome these acquisition problems, some teaching techniques were suggested in the conclusion part.

Mandarin Chinese is said to be a radical pro-drop language, in the sense that verbal arguments in this language can be dropped rather freely. However, in this dissertation, I show that the omission of arguments in Mandarin Chinese is in fact constrained by various conditions. First, I demonstrate that the availability of a discourse topic is insufficient to license empty categories in Mandarin Chinese by showing that subject and object positions cannot be left empty at random. Some empty subject positions are neither true instances of nominal ellipsis nor variables bound by discourse topics; instead, they are a side effect of verb or vP movement followed by TP-ellipsis. Next, I address the issue of when objects can be "dropped" in Mandarin Chinese. I argue that structural parallelism built on verbal identity between sentences plays an important role in licensing `objectless' sentences. I propose that the mechanism responsible for the creation of such sentences is V-stranding VP-ellipsis rather than argument ellipsis. In the last part of this dissertation, I show that, although we cannot rely on the strength of discourse alone to account for empty categories, the concept of topic-hood is nevertheless implicated in the appearance of certain empty argument positions in sentences used in monologues. I claim that subject pro in Mandarin Chinese must have as its antecedent an element located in an A'-position, which can be overt or covert. In addition, I suggest that the differences between Italian, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese with respect to the use of subject pro can be boiled down to the featural properties of the covert topic TOP preceding subject pro: this covert topic has inherently valued phi-features in Italian and Japanese, while its counterpart in Mandarin Chinese does not. / Linguistics

The present study examines certain syntactic properties of the Brazilian variety of Portuguese (BP): 1) BP is a pro-drop language with instances of both null subjects and covert objects, and 2) BP exhibits several possible word orders. To determine the frequency of pro-drop and word-order variations, the CDP (The Portuguese Corpus) was used to provide samples of transitive, main clauses, which were then categorized based on whether or not they had null subjects and covert objects. The clauses were also categorized according to word order. In addition to providing samples, the corpus allowed for the comparison of four different registers of BP: academic, newspaper, fiction, and oral. The results of the present study demonstrated that null subjects are much more common than covert objects (29.4% and 2.3% respectively) and that register did significantly affect the frequency of pro-drop, with oral having the highest rate of pro-drop and newspaper the lowest. For word order, SVO was most common at 95.1% with the occurrences of other variations being too rare to reliably determine statistical significance. Different from pro-drop, register did not affect the frequency of different word orders. Word-order variations were not random, however, but were determined by topic and focus with old information (topic) generally occurring preverbally, and new information (focus) generally occurring in the most embedded position. The fact that this study effectively examined these syntactic features is significant, as most of the Portuguese syntactic research previous to the present study was specific to European Portuguese. The present study demonstrated a new methodology being successfully applied to a different dialect, but more than that, it demonstrated that a more empirical, data-driven approach to syntactic research is both possible and valuable, justifying the creation and use of large corpora for this type of research.

L’étude porte sur des changements morphosyntaxiques de l’ancien français en étudiant la transition d’une langue à sujet-nul à une langue à sujet pronominal exprimé obligatoire comme c‘est le cas du français moderne. Dans ce but, une partie du Bestiaire de Philippe Thaon, œuvre médiévale du XIIe siècle, est analysée. Les occurrences du sujet-nul sont quantifiées et les régimes d’expression et omission du sujet pronominal sont examinés en prenant en compte le type deproposition et position verbale. Les résultats exposent une forte asymétrie entre les propositions principales et subordonnées quant à la fréquence relative du sujet-nul, les premières montrant un taux plus élevé de sujet-nul (87 %) que les dernières (56,5 %). Cette asymétrie est en concordance avec des études antérieures portant sur des textes du XIIe et surtout du XIIIe siècles (Offredi, 2006; Zimmermann, 2014) et résulte de l’organisation syntaxique à verbe second des propositions principales, ce qui permet l’omission du sujet en positions postverbales (Adams, 1987; Vance, 1997). En revanche, le régime d’expression du sujet pronominal dans les propositions subordonnées est moins bien défini ; tandis que l’étude actuelle confirme la flexibilité syntaxique dans les subordonnées, les conditions qui favorisent la réalisation du sujet ouvert restent à déterminer. Ces résultats peuvent cependant confirmer que l’ancien français du XIIe siècle n’est plus une langue à sujet-nul traditionnelle et que la transition a déjà commencé. / The present study investigated morphosyntactic changes in Old French by studying the transition from a null-subject language to a language with an obligatory pronominal subject, like Modern French. To this end the Bestiaire by Philippe de Thaon, a medieval literary work from the 12th century is analysed. The occurrence of null-subjects is quantified and the patterns of expression and omission of the pronominal subject are examined with regards to the proposition type and verbal position. The results expose a strong asymmetry between the main clauses and subordinate clauses, where the former display higher rates of null-subjects (87 %) compared with the latter (56,5 %). This asymmetry is in agreement with previous findings of the 12th century, and particularly the 13th century (Offredi, 2006; Zimmermann, 2014), resulting from a verb-second order in main clauses which allows for the omission of pronominal subjects in postverbal positions (Adams,1987; Vance, 1997). However, the conditions of the overt pronominal subject in subordinate clauses are less well-understood and while the present study confirms the greater syntactic flexibility in these clauses, the analysis did not reveal any factors helping to discern the observed pattern and more comprehensive research would be needed in this area. Yet, this study confirms what previously has been indicated that Old French of the 12th century is no longer a traditional null-subject language, and the transition is already well under way.

La presente investigación estudia la omisión del pronombre sujeto en la interlengua de un hablante nativo de español (L1) en el proceso de adquisición del sueco como (L2). La posibilidad de que un hispanohablante omita el pronombre sujeto, aceptado en español que es una lengua de sujeto nulo, a la hora de adquirir una L2 que no admite tal omisión, es una de las interrogantes a las que trataremos de dar respuestas, sobre todo si esta omisión se debe a transferencias de la L1 (lengua materna), en el caso que se compruebe que eso sí ocurre. Una hipótesis que nos planteamos es si el aprendiz que cuenta ya con conocimientos previos de la estructura gramatical de una lengua que no admite el pro-drop, comete menos el error de omisión del pronombre sujeto. Nuestro propósito es demostrar lo antes dicho mediante un estudio con aprendices hispanohablantes. Concluido el mismo, los resultados obtenidos muestran que aún sin tener otra lengua extranjera (LE), como por ej. el inglés, no necesariamente se omite el sujeto, a causa, como teníamos la creencia, de una sobregeneralización de reglas.

Thesis(M.A. (Translation and Linguistics Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The aim of this study was to examine the notion of projection, as underpinned by the Projection Principle, between the subject, the verb, the object, the adjective and the adverb in Tshivenḓa. Data were collected through participant observation, wherein the researcher collected data in the form of clauses and sentences in Tshivenḓa. This study found that verbs and subject prefixes are predicates which project arguments in sentences. These arguments are characterised both linguistically and in the form of word realities. The study further found that Tshivenḓa is a pro drop language because the adjectival argument prefix can locate the subject argument in absentia. In turn, subject arguments and adjectival arguments carry the same class nominal prefix. The projection of elements of a sentence in Tshivenḓa identifies grammatical relations between constituents. Lastly, it is recommended that studies of a similar nature should be conducted in other African languages to establish how elements of a clause or sentence cohere as informed by the Projection principle.