Null-Prep as a systematic interlanguage phenomenon
Evidence from relative clauses, interrogatives, and sluicing constructions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11655698 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Silvia Perpiñán (0000-0003-1254-0189, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, corresponding author), Anna Cardinaletti (0000-0002-9347-3434, Ca’ Foscari University, Italy) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 139-169 |
| Publication date | 2022-12-05 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Second language Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0267-6583 • E-ISSN: 1477-0326 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/02676583221132198 |
| OpenAlex | W4311522052 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 48 |
This study attempts to explain a systematic phenomenon that has been described in interlanguage grammars crosslinguistically: Null-Prep, which consists of omitting the obligatory preposition in certain movement constructions. We propose that Null-Prep is not related to lack of knowledge of wh-movement, as previously assumed, but to structural complexity; indeed, we consider Null-Prep a movement-derived structure. With evidence from prepositional relative clauses, wh-interrogatives, and sluicing constructions in first language (L1) and second language (L2) Spanish (English and Arabic L1s), we predict the potential appearance of the Null-Prep with a two-way complexity hierarchy that takes into account the syntactic position displaced, as well as its derivational complexity, in such a way that we calculate Null-Prep to occur more often in Relative Clauses, followed by Sluicing, and finally by Questions. This scalar phenomenon uniformly applies to all participants, native and L2 learners, emphasizing its universal nature
Epistemology · Interlanguage · Interrogative word · Linguistics · Null (SQL · Phenomenon · Theoretical linguistics · Computer Science · Mathematics · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
Consequences of Antisymmetry
Simpler Syntax
The Syntax of Silence
Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4
Evidence for a 'Wild' L2 Grammar
Structural intervention effects in the acquisition of sluicing
Derivational complexity vs. transfer effects
Relative clauses are barriers to wh -movement for young children
Generative linguistics within the cognitive neuroscience of language
Treatment of syntactic movement in syntactic SLI
Interlanguage A-bar dependencies
Wh- questions in child L2 French
Long-distance wh-movement and long-distance wh-movement avoidance in L2 English
(Mis)construing null prepositions in L2 intergrammars
Second language research
The Generative Study of Second Language Acquisition
Government and Binding Theory and the Minimalist Program
Scope-marking Strategies in the Acquisition of Long Distance wh-Questions in French and Dutch
The partial availability of Universal Grammar in second language acquisition
Relativized relatives
Sluicing and logical form
Interference and Natural Language Processing in Second Language Acquisition
The child heard a coordinated sentence and wondered
Measuring derivational complexity
Markedness and Salience in Second-Language Acquisition
How Children's Relatives Solve a Problem for Minimalism
Noun Phrase Accessibility Revisited
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,67 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2025 (3) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |