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Acquiring Nothing?

The Use of Zero Pronouns by Nonnative Speakers of Chinese and the Implications for the Acquisition of Nominal Reference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Charlene Polio
Charlene Polio
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
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Abstract

Some earlier SLA research suggests that zero pronouns should be easily acquired by second language learners, yet this has not been carefully examined because studies of nominal reference are usually limited to the acquisition of languages that do not have zero pronouns. This study examines how speakers of languages with zero pronouns (Japanese) and without them (English) use zero pronouns when acquiring a language that has them (Mandarin Chinese). The findings show that second language learners do not use zero pronouns as often as native speakers and that their use increases with proficiency. When examined more closely, it can be seen that the speakers have no difficulty using zero pronouns when there is a syntactic or semantic restriction, but they do have difficulty at the discourse level. It is claimed that this underuse of zero pronouns corresponds with other research that shows that second language learners tend to avoid pronouns in favor of full noun phrases. Some explanations for these phenomena are postulated.

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Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 17 , Issue 3 , September 1995 , pp. 353 - 377
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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